'^TT 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




DDDDSEDST'=3E 




Book AJ\J4-^ 

Gojpght'N!' 



COPyRICHT DEPOSIC 



ALLYN AND BACON'S SERIES OF SCHOOL HISTORIES 



A SHORT HISTORY OF 

MODERN PEOPLES 

(PART 11 OF IVORLD PROGRESS) 



BY 
WILLIS MASON WEST 

SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT 
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 



3^*:< 



ALLYN AND BACON 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO 



WEST'S HISTORIES 
1 2mo, cloth, numerous maps, plans, and illustrations 



vIa 



THE ANCIENT WORLD ^ 

THE MODERN WORLD 
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 
AMERICAN HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
SOURCE BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY 
THE STORY OF MAN'S EARLY PROGRESS 
THE STORY OF MODERN PROGRESS 
THE STORY OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 
THE STORY OF WORLD PROGRESS 
A SHORT HISTORY OF EARLY PEOPLES 
A SHORT HISTORY OF MODERN PEOPLES 



^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1922 
BY WILLIS MASON WEST 



KorSjjooti i^ress 

J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



JAM30'S(g)ciA69O2O2 



/Vh^ 



/ 



ir^ 



FOREWORD 

The growing demand in high schools for a one-year course in 
European history led me some months ago to write my World 
Progress. It is now decided to publish that work not only in 
the one-volume form but also in two " Parts," each adapted to a 
half-year course. The first part, carrying the story of civiliza- 
tion up to the sixteenth century, appears under the title A Short 
History of Earhj Peoples. The second part, bringing that story 
up to the present time, is the present volume. 

Throughout, my aim has been to select topics that make the 
past live again, and that at the same time form a continuous 
story and prepare for an understanding of the social problems 
of to-day. So brief a survey demands the rigid exclusion of 
unessentials. Recent developments, however, lead to a some- 
what new emphasis upon the story of Spanish America as well 
as upon that of China and Japan. The omission of United 
States history, except where intimately interwoven with Old 
World development, is made possible by the fact that happily 
that subject has won for itself a full and separate high-school 

year. 

WILLIS MASON WEST 

WiNDAGo Farm 

December 1, 1922 



m 



CONTENTS 



List of Illustrations 

List of Maps .......... 

PART VIII — THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 



CHAPTER 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 
XXXVII. 



PAGE 

vii 
xi 



329 



The Reformation upon the Continent 

Lutheranism : Calvinism; Counter-Reformation 
England and the Protestant Movement . . 339 
A Century of Religious Wars .... 348 
Spain and Holland; The French Huguenots ; The 
Thirty Years' War in Germany 



PART IX — FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 
TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

XXXVIII. Science and Trade 357 

XXXIX. Puritanism and Politics in England . . 368 

The First Stuarts; The Great Rebellion and the 
Commonwealth; the Restoration and the '' glo- 
rious" Revolution of 1688; the development of 
parties and of Cabinet government 
XL. Expansion of Europe into New Worlds . . 386 

XLI. Despots and Wars 392 

Age of Louis XIV and of Frederick II ; the Rise 
of Russia; the American Revolution 

PART X — THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



XLII. 
XLIII. 
XLIV. 

XLV. 
XLVI. 



France (and Europe) before the Revolution, 404 

The Revolution in Peace (1789-1791) . . 412 

The Revolution in War Time .... 420 

Bonaparte and the Consulate .... 432 

Napoleon and the Empire 438 



PART XI — REACTION, 1815-1848 



448 



XLVII. Reaction in the Saddle, 1815-1820 . 

The Congress of Vienna ; the Rule of Metternich 
XLVIII. Unsuccessful Revolutions. 1820-1830 . . 457 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XLIX. England and the Industrial Revolution . . 465 
L. The Revolution in the Lives op the Workers . 473 

PART XII — CONTINENTAL EUROPE REARRANGED, 

1848-1871 

LI. " The Year of Revolutions," 1848 . . .480 
In France; In Central Europe — Austrian Empire 
and Germany ; In Italy 
LII. From the Year of Revolutions to the Franco- 
Prussian War 492 

The '' Second Empire" in France; "Italy Is Made" ; 
Making of Germany 

PART XIII — ENGLAND, 1815-1914: REFORM 
WITHOUT REVOLUTION 

LIII. The First Reform Bill, 1832 .... 506 

LIV. Reform in the Victorian Age .... 514 

LV. Recent Reform : " War upon Poverty " . . 529 

LVI. English Colonies and Dependencies . . 537 

PART XIV — CONTINENTAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 

LVII. The French Republic, 1871-1914 . . . .544 

LVIII. The German Empire, 1871-1914 .... 559 

LIX. Other States of Central Europe . . . 570 

LX. Russia 586 

PART XV — THE WORLD IN 1914 

LXI. Science and Social Progress ..... 595 

LXII. World Politics to 1914 601 

Encroachments upon Africa and Asia; Japan; 
China; European Alliances; International Arbi- 
tration 

PART XVI — THE WORLD WAR 

LXIII. The Conflagration Bursts Forth . . 621 
The Balkans ; Germany Wills the War 

LXIV. Four Years of War 631 

LXV. Since the War 651 

Appendix — A Short List of Books on Modern European History 

for High Schools 1 

Index ...... 3 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

American Troops Marching through the Arch of Triumph, Paris. 
Colored ......... Frontispiece 

PAGE 

1. St. Peter's, Rome: exterior and interior views 

Plate LV, facing 330 

2. Luther's Defiance at Worms (Von Werner) .... 331 

3. Luther's Room in the Wartburg 332 

4. Charles V at Muhlberg . . Plate LVI, facing 334 

5. Village Maypole Festival sixteenth century . . . 336 

6. English Abbeys, Tintern and Tewksbury, Plate LVII, facing 340 

7. Sir Thomas More (Rubens' copy of Holbein's portrait) . 341 

8. Kenilworth Castle, 1620 and To-day . Plate LVIII, facing 343 

9. Shakespere's Theater, The Globe 344 

10. Queen Elizabeth at the Tilbury Rally 345 

11. Francis Drake Knighted by Queen Elizabeth . . .349 

12. Dutch Windmills 351 

13. Henry IV of France, with his children Plate LIX, facing 352 

14. Richeheu on the Mole at La Rochelle . Plate LX, facing 353 

15. Death of Gustavus Adolphus . . Plate LXI, facing 354 

16. Rheinstein, a Medieval Castle. Colored . . facing 359 

17. Ruins of a Rhine Castle — above a modern town . . 360 

18. Charles I of England (Van Dyck) Plate LXH, facing 371 

19. Oliver Cromwell Visiting John Milton (David Neal) 

Plate IjUH, facing 375 

20. Charles I's Attempt to Seize the Five Members in the Com- 

mons (Copley) Plate LXIV, facing 376 

21. Cromwell in Armor (Robert Walker's life portrait) 

Plate LXV, facing 377 

Trial of Charles I .... Plate LXVI, facing 378 

Great Seal of the English Commonwealth .... 379 

Blake's Victory over Von Tromp 380 

White's Chocolate House in London (Hogarth) 

Plate LXVII, facing 385 

House of Commons (Hogarth, in 1730) .... 385 
La Salle Taking Possession of the Mississippi Valley for 

France (Marchand) 387 

vii 



viii ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

28. Facsimile Title Page from Hakluyt's Voyages 

Plate LXVIII, facing 389 

29. Page from the New England Primer of 1680 . . . 390 

30. The French in Heidelberg (horrors of Louis XIV's Wars) 

Plate LXIX, facing 392 

31. Louis XIV and the Great Conde . Plate LXX, facing 393 

32. St. Basil's, Moscow . . . . Plate LXXI, facing 395 

33. The Great Elector Welcoming Fugitive Huguenots 

Plate LXXII, facing 397 

34. The Last Rally of Tippoo Sahib . Plate LXXIII, facing 399 

35. Crossed Swords of Prescott and Linzee . . . .401 

36. Voltaire (Houdon's bust) 409 

37. Gardens and Palace at Versailles . Plate LXXIV, facing 412 

38. French Peasant Risings in 1789 . Plate LXXV, facing 415 

39. Fall of the Bastille (Prieur) 415 

40. Rouget De Lisle Singing the Marseillaise for the First Time 

Plate LXXVI, facing 424 

41. Bonaparte at Areola . . . . . . . . 433 

42. Bonaparte Dissolves the Assembly 434 

43. The Vendome Column 440 

44. Napoleon in 1811 442 

45. Rising of Prussia against Napoleon in 1813 . . . . 446 

46. The Retreat from Moscow (Verestchagin) 

Plate LXXVII, facing 446 

47. The Congress of Vienna (Isabey) Plate LXXVIII, facing 448 

48. Napoleon at Waterloo (Steuben) Plate LXXIX, facing 451 

49. Napoleon aboard the Bellerophon ..... 452 

50. The Duke of Wellington 459 

51. A Paris Barricade in 1830 (Georges Cain) 

Plate LXXX, facing 462 

52. Farm Tools, 1800 and To-day . . Plate LXXXI, facing 465 

53. A Spinning Wheel in a Swiss Home 467 

54. A Primitive Loom — in use in Japan ..... 468 

55. Modern Textile Machinery . . Plate LXXXII, facing 468 

56. An Early Cotton Gin 469 

57. Steam Navigation — the Clermont and the Britannic 

Plate LXXXIII, facing 470 

58. New York City — to show effect of steel in architecture 

Plate LXXXIV, facing 472 

59. Harvesting in 1831 and To-day . Plate LXXXV, facing 477 

60. Steel Works in Pueblo, Colorado 478 

61. Louis Napoleon's Landing at Boulogne (Deutsch) . . 485 

62. Joseph Mazzini 490 



ILLUSTRATIONS IX 

PAGE 

A View of Paris . . . . Plate LXXXVI, Jacing 492 

" France is Tranquil " (Harper s Magazine) . . . 494 

Cavour (Desmaisons) ........ 497 

Garibaldi 499 

Proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles (Von 

Werner) 504 

The Parliament Buildings, London Plate LXXXVII, facing 506 
Canvassing for Votes in "Guzzledown" (Hogarth's" Humors 

of a Country Election ") 508 

A Polling Scene (Hogarth's "Humors of a Coimtry Elec- 
tion") Plate LXXXVIII, /aciw^ 508 

Westminster Abbey . . . Plate LXXXIX, facing 514 
Queen Victoria . . . . . • . . .519 
Sir Robert Peel Speaking for the Repeal of the Corn Laws 

Plate XC, facing 522 

DisraeH 524 

Gladstone 528 

Canadian Parliament Buildings at Ottawa 

Plate XCI, facing 537 

Railroad Station at Bombay, India . Plate XCII, facing 538 

Taj Mahal. Colored facing 540 

Gambetta Arousing the French Provinces against Prus- 
sian Invasion in 1871 544 

Bismarck Dictating Terms to Thiers 545 

Destruction of the Vcndome Column by Communards . 547 

Bismarck, after dismissal from office 567 

Gibraltar Plate XCIII, facing 576 



Palais de Justice, Brussels 

A Norwegian Fjord — Sogndal 

Mount Blanc and Chamonix 

The Kremlin, Moscow 

The DeWitt Clinton (1831) and 

motive .... 
Forging a Railway Car xA.xle 
Two Views of the Panama Canal 
Hasedera Temple, Japan 
The Walls of Peking . 

Constantinople and the Bosphorus . Plate CI, facing 613 

The Christ of the Andes ... Plate CII, facing 617 

Copocabana and the Harbor of Rio de Janeiro 

Plate cm, facing 618 

96. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 622 

97. Windsor Castle. Colored facing 630 



. Plate XCIV, facing 578 

580 

. Plate XCV, facing 582 

. Plate XCVI, facing 588 
Modern Electric Loco- 

. Plate XCVII, facing 595 

596 

Plate XCVIII, facing 598 

. Plate XCIX, facing 604 

. Plate C, facing 606 



X ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

98. World War Scenes : French Infantry in Action, and a 

French " Dugout " .... Plate ClY , facing 633 

99. Rheims Cathedral in Flames from German Shells 

Plate CV, facing 634 

100. World War Scenes : Review of French Troops ; Range 

Finding Plate CVI, facing 641 

101. John J. Pershing Plate CVII, facing 644 

102. General Haig 647 

103. Captured German Guns in Paris . . Plate CVIII, facing 649 

104. Ferdinand Foch 649 

105. German Prisoners, and American Soldiers in Action in the 

Argonne Plate CIX, facing 650 

106. The " Big Four '' at Versailles 654 

107. Clemenceau Delivering the Treaty to the German Dele- 

gates at Versailles .... Plate CX, facing 656 

108. Lloj^d George and Aristide Briand at Cannes 

Plate CXI, facing 659 

109. American Warships in New York Harbor .... 668 



MAPS 



1. Europe in the Time of Charles V. Colored 

2. The Swiss Confederation, 1291-1500 . 

3. The Netherlands at the Truce of 1609 . 

4. Territorial Changes of the Thirty Years' War. 



5. English America, 1660-1690. Colored 

6. Prussia at the Death of Frederick II 

7. Europe, 1740-1789. Colored 

8. Europe in 1802. Colored . 

9. Germany after 1550. Colored 

10. Europe in 1810. Colored . 

11. Europe in 1815. Colored 

12. Germanic Confederation, 1815-1867. Colored 

13. Races of Austria-Hungary, about 1850. Colored 

14. Growth of Prussia, 1815-1867 

15. The German Empire, 1871-1914. Colored 

16. Africa in 1914. Colored 

17. Europe in 1914. Colored 

18. World Powers in 1914. Colored . 

19. The Balkan States, 1912-1913 

20. The Kingdom of Italy, 1860 and 1919 . 

21. "MittelEuropa," March, 1918 . 

22. German Lines on the West Front, July 15 and 

10, 1918 . . . . 

23. Central Europe in 1919 . 

24. Europe in 1919. Colored . 



facing 
facing 
facing 
Colored 

facing 
facing 
facing 
facing 
facing 
. after 
facing 
facing 
. after 
facing 
facing 
. after 
facing 
. after 
. after 



facing 

November 
facing 

. after 



PAGE 

333 
336 
350 

356 
390 
402 
404 
435 
442 
445 
452 
454 
486 
502 
558 
603 
610 
620 
625 
632 
643 

646 
652 
660 



XI 



PAET VIII - THE PROTESTANT EEFOEMATION, 

1520-1648 



CHAPTER XXXV 

THE REFORMATION UPON THE CONTINENT 

I. LUTHERANISM 

The later references to the church have involved some men- The need 
tion of abuses growing up within it (pp. 306, 315). Good Chris- ^°^ religious 
tians lamented those abuses. A few broad-minded, genial 
men, like Erasmus, strove earnestly to reform them. Less 
patient, more impetuous men broke away from the old church 
in a revolt which became the Protestant "Reformation." 

The revolt began in Germany. That land lacked a strong Special 
government to protect it, and so its hard-won, little wealth was ^ "^^^ ^^ 
drained away to richer Italy by papal taxes of many sorts. 
Nowhere else was this condition so serious. From peasant to 
prince, the German people had long grumbled as they paid, and 
they needed only a leader to rise against papal control. 

Martin Luther, son of a Thuringian peasant-miner, became Martin 
that leader. Luther was a born fighter, — a straightforward "go^ie^e 
man, with a blunt, homely way that sometimes degenerated 
into coarseness. As an Augustinian friar, his effective preach- 
ing haH attracted the attention of Duke Frederick the Wise of 
Saxony, who made him a professor of theology in the new Uni- 
versity of Wittenberg. 

Luther 's revolt began in his opposition to the sale of indul- Luther and 
gences. The pope was rebuilding St. Peter's Cathedral at IJj^yigencL 
Rome with great magnificence. To help raise money for that 
purpose, a German archbishop had licensed John Tetzel, a Do- 
minican, to grant indulgences. The practice was an old one, 
arising easily out of the doctrine of " penance." The authorized 

329 



330 



THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 



Luther's 
theses 
arouse 
Germany 



Luther and 
the pope 



teaching of the church was, that, in reward for some pious act 
— or for the gift of money for a pious purpose — a sinner who 
had truly repented and who had, so far as possible, atoned for 
his sins, might have the punishment due in purgatory remitted 
by the church. The ignorant masses, unal)le to read the Latin 
documents, often thought that such an "indulgence" was an 
unconditional pardon, — contrary to the doctrine of the church ; 
and some professional " pardoners," who peddled such "letters," 
encouraged this gross error. Tetzel was a special offender in 
this way. A rude German rhyme, ascribed to him, runs, "The 
money rattles in the box ; the soul from purgatory flies." More 
than a hundred years before, the bright-soulcd Chaucer had 
given the only bitter lines in his Canterbury Tales to the Par- 
doner with his wallet " bret-full of pardons, come from Rome 
all hot." Now a visit of Tetzel to Wittenberg, with a batch 
of these papal letters, aroused Luther to more vehement protest. 

On a Sunday in Octo})er, 1517, Luther nailed to the door of 
the Wittenberg church ninety-five "theses" (statements) 
against the practice of selling indulgences, upon which he chal- 
lenged all comers to debate. That door was the usual uni- 
versity bulletin board where it was customary for one scholar 
to challenge others to debate. But Luther's act had con- 
sequences far beyond the university. The theses were iti Latin, 
the regular university language ; but the printing press scat- 
tered copies broadcast in German, and in a few days they were 
being discussed hotly over all Germany. 

Soon, however, this matter dropped out of sight. The papal 
legate in Germany reprimanded Tetzel sternly for his gross 
mispractice ; and the church corrected the abuse. But, mean- 
while, Luther adopted more radical opinions ; and in 1519 he 
denied the authority of the pope, appealing instead to the Bible as 
the sole rule of conduct and belief} Then when at last a papal 

^ Luther tried to substitute one authority for another. But the Bible is 
capable of many interpretations. His appeal to the Bible as the sole au- 
thority meant Luther's understanding of the Bible. In the mouth of an- 
other man, however, the same appeal meant that other's understanding of 
the book. So, unintentionally, the Protestant revolt came to stand for the 
ripht of individual judgment. 



PLATE LV 




St. Peter's. Rome. — The interior \aew .shows the nave (central aisle) as 
one enters, looking east. On the right of the exterior view is shown the 
Vatican, the papal residence. 

St. Peter's was not completed until far into the seventeenth century, but it 
owes most of its glory to the work upon it of artists of the late Renais- 
sance period, like Raphael and Michael Angelo. The form of this greatest 
of churches is that of a cross, surmounted, at the junction of the arms, 
by a dome 138 feet across, the dominating feature of the building and prob- 
ably the most famous dome in the world. 



MARTIN LUTHER 



331 



bull ordered him to recant and to burn his heretical writings, Luther 
Luther burned instead the papal hull in a bonfire of other writings ^^rns the 
of the church, before the town gate in December, 1520, while a 
crowd of students and townsfolk brought fuel. 




Luther's Defiance at Worms, — a modern painting by Von Werner. 

The pope appealed to the young emperor, Charles V (p. 320) to Luther at 

punish the heretic. Germany was in uproar. The Emperor °^"^ 

called an imperial Diet^ at Worms (1521) and summoned Luther 

to be present, pledging safe conduct. Friends tried to dissuade 

Luther from going, pointing to the fate of Hus a century before ; 

but he replied merely, " I would go on if there were as many 

devils in Worms as there are tiles on the housetops." At the 

Diet he was confronted with scornful contempt by the great 

dignitaries of the church and of the empire. But to the haughty 

command that he recant, he answered firmly, ''Unless I am 

proven wrong by Scripture or plain reason . . . my conscience 

is caught in the word of God. . . . Here I stand. As God is 

my help, I can no otherwise." 

^ The German Did in early times contained only nobles. In the four- 
teenth century, representatives of the "free cities" were admitted. Then 
the Diet sat usually in three Houses, Electors (the seven great princes), 
Princes (of second rank), and City Representatives. It never gained any 
real place in the government of the Empire. 



332 



THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 



A German 
Bible 



Charles kept his pledge; but a month later the Diet pro- 
nounced against Luther the "ban of the Empire," ordering that 
he be seized for execution. The friendly Frederick of Saxony, 
however, had had him seized, on his way homeward, and carried 
into hiding in the castle of Wartburg. Most of his followers 




Luther's Room in the Wartburg. — The desk i.s the one at which he 
penned his translation of the Bible. The broken plaster commemorates 
an interesting incident. Believing that Satan had come to tempt him, 
Luther hurled his ink bottle at the apparition. The ink splashed the 
plaster ; and visitors have picked off pieces of the bespatterc d wall for 
souvenirs. Luther's picture, above the desk, is a modern addition to 
the room. 



mourned him as dead ; but in this refuge Luther translated the 
New Testament into strong and simple German. While he 
was still in hiding, his teachings were accepted by whole com- 
munities. Priests married ; nuns and monks left their con- 
vents ; powerful princes joined the new communion, sometimes 
from honest conviction, sometimes as an excuse for seizing 
church lands. 



LUTHERANISM WINS NORTH GERMANY 333 

In 1522, Luther left his retreat to guide the movement again Lutheran- 
in person and to restrain it from going further than he hked. l^^^^Ji,^*^® 
Changes in rehgion, he urged, should be made only by the gov- man princes 
ernments, not hy the people : and he preserved all that he could 
of the old churcli services and organization, establishing them 
on essentially the basis on which they still stand in the Lutheran 
church. By 1530, that church had won Xorth Germany. 

Meantime the revolt against the old church had led to the The peasant 
growth of some extreme sects of wild fanatics ; and in 1525 "^^°s m 
there had been a great rising of the peasants, demanding, " in 
the name of God's justice," the abolition of serfdom and the 
right of each parish to choose its own pastor. The peasants 
in Germany were in a much more deplorable condition than in 
England, and, when they found arms in their hands, in several 
places they avenged centuries of cruel oppression by massacres 
of old masters. 

Luther, fearing discredit for his new church, called furiously Luther 

on the princes to put down this rising with the sword — to P^'^^^^h^s ^ 
^ ^ ° war against 

*' smite, strangle, or stab" ; and the movement was stamped out the peasants 

brutally in blood, with ghastly scenes that infinitely surpassed 

in horror any excesses by the ignorant peasants themselves. 

The whole peasant class was crushed down to a level far 

lower than before, — lower than anyw^here else in Europe, — 

where they were to remain helpless for almost three hundred 

years. 

In 1529 another Diet reaffirmed the decree of Worms. Foreign 
Against this condemnation the Lutherans presented a formal charies^V 
protest — which gave them the name Protestant. Charles V, from acting 
the young emperor, was a zealous churchman, and if his hands 
had been free, he would have crushed Lutheranism at its birth. 
But even while the Diet of Worms was condemning Luther, 
the Spanish towns were rising in revolt and Francis I of France 
was seizing Italian territory (p. 320), and very soon Solyman the 
Magnificent (the Turkish Sultan) invaded Austria. Charles 
promptly crushed the ancient liberties of the Spanish towns ; 
})ut the wars against France and the Turk, with only brief 
truces, filled the next twenty-three years (1521-1544). 



334 



THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 



Abdication 
of Charles 



When Charles did find his hands free for Germany, Prot- 
estantism was too strong even for his power, and he was forced 
to accept the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which left each prince 
of the Empire free to choose the religion for his province. (The 
people were expected docilely to accept the religion of their 
ruler.) 

The Protestants in their danger had sought aid from the 
French king ; and France for her reward had seized some Ger- 
man districts, including the city of Metz. Chagrined at the 
loss, and disheartened b}' the split within the Empire, Charles 
abdicated his many crowns in 1556. His brother Ferdinand 
became ruler of Austria, and soon after was chosen Emperor. 
Charles' son, Philip II, received the Netherlands, Spain, Naples, 
and Spanish America. There were now two Hapsburg Houses, 
one in Spain, one in Austria. France feared that she might he 
crushed between them, and became eager to take advantage of 
any chance to weaken them. 



II. CALVINISM — IN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE 



Zwingli and 
Luther 



Rise of 
Switzerland 



While Lutheranism was winning North Germany (and Scan- 
dinavia), another form of Protestantism, Calvinism, was growing 
up in Switzerland and, for a time, in France and even in the 
west of Germany. 

This movement was started in 1519 (the year before Luther 
burned the papal bull), by Zwingli, a priest at Zurich, in Swit- 
zerland. Zwingli was far more radical than Luther. Luther 
tried to keep everything of the old worship and doctrine that he 
did not think forbidden by the Bible. But Zwingli refused to 
keep anything of the old that he did not think absolutely commanded 
by the Bible. He also organized a strict system of church disci- 
pline which severely punished gaming, sw^earing, drunkenness, 
and some innocent sports. Before continuing this story, how- 
ever, it is best to learn a little about Swiss history. 

The sturdy peasantry of the Swiss mountains preserved 
much of the ancient Teutonic independence and democracy 
even in the feudal age, though their districts had fallen under 



PLATE LVT 




Charles V at the Battle of Muhlberg, — a painting by the con- 
temporary Venetian artist Titian. This painting (now in Madrid) pic- 
tures the Emperor at the summit of his power, in 1547, — and just before 
the collapse. Shortly before, he had forced the French king to sue for 
peace, and had won a truce from the Turk. In the battle of Muhlberg 
(aided by the defection of Maurice of Saxony from the Protestant 
princes) he for the moment crushed Protestantism in Germany. But 
Maurice again changed sides ; the Protestants rallied ; and a few months 
later Charles fled from Germany, barely escaping capture. 



CALVINISM 335 

the control (more or less strict) of neighboring nobles. Some 
small "cantons" in the German Alps belonged to the Hapsburg 
Counts. When Rudolph of Hapsburg (p. 315) became duke 
of distant Austria, he left these formet- possessions to subor- 
dinate officials — who oppressed the people. Accordingly, 
ill 1294 three "forest cantons" — Uri, Schwyz, and Unter- 
walden — united in a "perpetual league" for mutual defense. 
For two centuries, from time to time, the Hapsburgs sent armies 
against this union ; and soon the league against oppression 
by the lord's agents became a league for full independence. 
Freedom was finally established by two great victories, — 
Morgarten (1315) and Sempach (1386) — to which belong 
the legends of William Tell and of Winkelried. 

Meantime, other neighboring districts had rebelled against 
feudal overlords and joined the league ; and some of these new 
members were city-states — Bern, Zurich, and Luzern, richer 
and more aristocratic than the original cantons of farmer folk. 
The union remained a loose confederacy (mainly to manage 
foreign wars). The cantons sometimes quarreled among them- 
selves — as over this matter of the Reformation. (Indeed 
Zwingli fell in 1531 in a battle between Zurich and the original 
three cantons, which had remained Catholic.) But there was 
no 'powerful central government to stamj) out the neiv movement. 

Now Geneva, a French town in the Alps, quarreled with its John Calvin 
feudal lord, and, for its greater safety, joined the Swiss league. ^ 
Its former lord had been a Catholic bishop ; and so Geneva 
welcomed the new doctrines of Zwingli. Fi\'e years after the 
death of that leader, John Calvin (a fugitive from France 
because of religious heresy) found refuge at Geneva, and soon 
became there an absolute dictator o\'er both church and gov- 
ernment. Geneva became a Puritan "theocracy," "with 
Calvin for its pope." 

This remarkable man was a young French scholar of sternly Calvinism 
logical mind. He became the father of Puritan theology and En^^a^nd""^' 
of the Presbyterian church, with its synods and presbyteries, and America 
Undoubtedly he took the law of Moses rather than the spirit 
of Christ for the basis of his legislation : but his writings in- 



336 



THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 



The 

" Counter- 
Reforma- 
tion " 



fluenced profoundly his own and future times. Ardent re- 
formers from all Europe flocked to Geneva to imbibe his teach- 
ings, and then returned to spread Calvinism in their own lands. 
From Geneva came the seeds of Scotch Preshyterianism, of the 

great Puritan movement 
ivithin the English church 
(soon to be treated), of 
the leading Protestant move- 
ment among the Dutch, and 
of the Huguenot church of 
France. It is from the 
French Calvin, not the 
German Luther, that mod- 
ern liberal Protestantism 
has sprung. True, Calvin 
did not believe in democ- 
racy, and he taught that 
for ''subjects" to resist 
even a wicked ruler was 
"to resist God;" but, in 

A Village Maypole Festival of the g j^e of this teaching, in 
sixteenth century, such as Calvin ... 

condemned. the course of historical 

movements, Calvinism became the ally of political freedom in 

Holland, England, and America. 

III. CATHOLICISM KEEPS THE SOUTH OF EUROPE 

For a time. Protestantism promised to win also the south of 
Europe; but Spain, Italy, France, Bohemia, and South Germany 
were finally saved to Catholicism. 

This w^as mainly because the old church quickly purged itself 
of old abuses. At first Erasmus and other Humanists had been 
interested in the work of Luther. But when it became plain 
that that movement was breaking up the unity of Christendom, 
they were violently repelled by it. Disruption into warring 
sects, they felt, was a greater evil than existing faults. They 
continued to w^ork, however, w^ith even greater zeal than before, 
for reform within the church. Such reform was finally carried 




AND THE COUNTER-REFORMATION 337 

out by the Council of Trent (1545-1563). That great body 
did not change CathoHc forms ; but it defined some doctrines 
more exactly, and infused a greater moral energy into the church. 

The new religious enthusiasm within the Catholic world gave The Jesuits 
birth, also, to several new religious orders. The most im- 
portant of these was the "Order of Jesus" (Jesuits), founded 
in 1534 by Ignatius Loyola, a gallant Spanish gentleman of deep 
religious feeling. The Jesuits stood to the friars somewhat as 
the friars stood to the older monks. Holding fast like the 
friars to an intensely religious private life, they represented a 
further advance into the world of public affairs. Their members 
mingled with men in all capacities. Especially did they dis- 
tinguish themselves as statesmen and as teachers. Their schools 
were the best in Europe, and many a Protestant youth was 
drawn back by them to Catholicism ; and their many de- 
voted missionaries among the heathen in the New World 
won vast regions to Christianity and Catholicism. 

Unhappily less praiseworthy forces had a share in the victory The 
of Catholicism. Religious wars, we shall see (p. 348 ff.), in ^^^^^sition 
large part kept France, Bohemia, and South Germany Catholic ; 
and elsewhere the final success of the Catholic church in crush- 
mg out Protestantism was due in part to the Inquisition. 

The Inquisition dated back to the twelfth century. At that Origin three 
time the church had suffered one of its periods of decline ; and ^®^*""^^ 
discontent with its corruption had given rise to several small 
heresies. The most important of these sects were the Albigenses 
in southeastern France. They rejected some church doctrines, 
and they rebelled against church government by pope and 
priesthood — so that an old by-word, "I had rather be a Jew," 
became, for them, "I had rather be a priest" ! 

The church had made many vain attempts to reclaim these 
heretics, and finally, the great reforming pope, Innocent III, pro- 
claimed a "holy war" against them, declaring them "more 
wicked than Saracens." The feudal nobles of northern France 
rallied gladly to this war, hungry for the rich plunder of the 
more civilized south ; and a twenty years' struggle, marked by 
ferocious massacres, crushed the heretics. When open re- 



338 



THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 



The Spanish 
Inquisition 
and Prot- 
estantism 



sistance ceased in desolated Langiiedoc, the pope set up a special 
court to hunt out and exterminate any secret heretics remaining 
there. Soon afterward, this court, enlarged and reorganized, 
became a regular part of the government of the church for sup- 
pressing heresy. In this final form it is commonly known as 
the Spanish Inquisition, though it held sway also in Portugal 
and Italy. 

In the south of Europe, now, the Inquisition became one 
means of stifling the new Protestant heresies. The court sel- 
dom confronted the accused witli his accuser, or allowed him 
witnesses of his choosing ; and it extorted confession by cruel 
tortures, carried to a point where human courage could not 
endure. The property of the convicted went to enrich the 
church, and the heretic himself was handed over to the gov- 
ernment for death by fire. Persecution of unbelievers ivas char- 
acteristic of the age. It disgraced every sect, Protestant as well 
as Catholic. But no Protestant land possessed a device so 
admirably calculated to accomplish its purpose as the Inqui- 
sition. 



For Further Reading. — Beard's Martin Luther, or (briefer but 
excellent) Lindsay's Luther and the German Reformation; Ward's The 
Counter-Reformation; Robinson's Readings in European History, for 
source material. Parkman's histories, especially Pioneers of New 
France (chs. v and vi) and Jesuits in North America (ch. ii) contain 
interesting accounts of Jesuit missionaries. If available, the scholarly 
Catholic Encyclopedia should be consulted for its articles on "Luther" 
and "Indulgences." 



CHAPTER XXXVI 
ENGLAND AND THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT 

In England Henry VIII ^ had shown himself zealous against Henry vili 
Luther, and had even written a book to controvert Luther's quarrel with 
teaching, in return for which the pope had conferred upon him *he pope 
the title, "Defender of the Faith." A little later, however, 
Henry desired a divorce from his wife, the unfortunate Cath- 
erine of Aragon, aunt of Charles V (p. 320). Catherine's 
only child was a girl (Mary), and Henry was anxious for a son. 
More to the point, he wished to marry Anne Boleyn, a lady of 
the court. 

After long negotiation, the pope refused to grant the divorce. A Church 
Thereupon Henry put himself in the place of the pope so far °^ England 
as his island was concerned, and secured the divorce from his 
own courts. The clergy and people were then forbidden to 

^Cf. p. 311. The following table of Tudor rulers shows also the claim of 
the first ruler of the next royal family. (Three of Henry VIII's wives, by 
whom he had no children, are not shown.) 

(1) Henry VII (1485-1509) 



Margaret 
(m. James IV of Scotland) 
I 
James V of Scotland 

I 
Mary Queen of Scots 



(2) Henry VIII (1509-1547) 



(6) James I 
of England 
(1603-1625) 

the first 
Stuart king 



Mary 
(grandmother of 
Lady Jane Grey) 



(4) Mary 

(1553-1558) 

(daughter of 

Catherine 

of Aragon) 



(5) Elizabeth 
(1558-1603) 
(daughter of 

Anne Boleyn) 



(3) Edward VI 

(1547-1553) 

(son of 

Jane Seymour) 



339 



340 



ENGLAND AND THE REFORMATION 



Dissolution 
of the 
monasteries 



Henry 
burns 
Protestants 
and hangs 
Catholics 



Edward VI, 
1547-1553 



make any further payments to "the Bishop of Rome" (1532), 
and an " Act of Supremacy" declared Henry the " only supreme 
head on earth of the Church of England." When Parliament 
passed these laws, the Augsburg Confession had just been put 
into form ; and Calvin was about to take up Zwingli's work. 

Thus in England, separation from Rome was due at first to 
personal motives of the monarch. So far there had been no 
attack on the religious doctrines of the old church ; and Henry 
wished none. But his chief advisers, especially Cranmer, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, who had pronounced his divorce, 
had strong Protestant leanings ; and so some additional 
vieasures were secured. The doctrine of purgatory was declared 
false ; and the Bible, in English, was introduced into the church 
service, in place of the old Latin liturgy. 

Most of p]ngland accepted these changes calmly, and even 
the clergy made no serious resistance, as a class, to the over- 
throw of the pope 's power ; but the monasteries were centers of 
criticism. Henry determined to root out resistance, and to enrich 
himself, by their utter ruin ; and, at the king's wish. Parliament 
dissolved the seven hundred such institutions in England. A 
little of their wealth was set aside to found schools and hospi- 
tals (in place of the work in such lines formerly done by the 
monasteries themselves), but Henry seized most of the mo- 
nastic lands for the crown. Then he parceled out parts of 
them, shrewdly, to new nobles and the gentry. Thousands 
of influential families were enriched by such gifts, and became 
centers of hostility to any reconciliation with Rome that would 
ruin their private fortunes. 

These changes were as far as Henry would go ; and, to the 
close of his long reign, he beheaded "traitors" who recognized 
papal headship, and burned "heretics" who denied papal doc- 
trines. In one day, in 1540, three "heretics" and three 
"traitors" suffered death. The most famous martyr was the 
Catholic Sir Thomas More (p. 324). 

Henry was succeeded by his son Edward VI. The new 
king was a boy of nine, and during his short reign the govern- 
ment was held by a rapacious clique of Protestant lords. 



PLATE LVII 





Above. — Tintern Abbey To-day. (The road is modern.) 
Below. — Tewksbury Abbey To-day : one of the very few such struc- 
tures to escape ruin. 



MARY TUDOR 



341 



Partly to secure fresh plunder, these men tried to carry England 
into the full current of the Protestant movement. Priests were 
allowed to marry. The use of the old litany, and of incense, 
holy water, and the surplice, was forbidden. Commissioners 
to carry out these 
commands through- 
out P^ngland some- 
times broke the 
stained glass win- 
dows of sacred build- 
ings and tore from 
the pedestals the 
carved forms of 
saints. Rebellion 
was put down cru- 
elly, several Catho- 
lics were burned as 
heretics and con- 
spirators, — among 
them Father Forest, 
who was roasted 
barbarously in a 

swinging iron cradle ^^^ Thomas More. — After Rubens' copy of 
over a slow fire. Holbein's portrait. 

During this period, the English Prayer Book was put into its 
present form, under the direction of Cranmer (p. 340) ; and 
articles of faith were adopted which inclined toward Calvinistic 
doctrine. 

Henry had had Parliament fix the order in which his children 
should be entitled to succeed him ; and so when Edward died 
at fifteen, the throne passed to his elder half-sister, Mary, 
daughter of Catherine of Aragon. Mary was an earnest 
Catholic, and felt an intense personal repugnance for the Prot- 
estant movement which had begun in England by the disgrace 
of her mother. The nation was still overwhelmingly Catholic 
in feeling. The Protestants were active, organized, and in- 
fluential ; but they were few in numbers, and Mary had no 




Queen 
Mary tries 
to restore 
Catholicism, 
1553-1558 



persecutions 



342 ENGLAND AND THE REFORMATION 

difficulty in doing away with the Protestant innovations of 
her brother's time. But she ivanted more thsui this : she wished 
to undo her father 's work, and to restore England to its allegiance 
to the pope. Parliament readily voted the repeal of all anti- 
Catholic laws, but it refused stubbornly to restore the church 
lands. Finally the pope wisely waived this point. Then the 
nation was solemnly absolved, and received back into the 
Roman church. 

Mary's But Mary destroyed her work by marrying Philip of Spain, 

son of the Emperor Charles V, and by a bloody persecution of 
Protestants. All English patriots dreaded, with much reason, 
lest little England be made a mere province of the world-wide 
Spanish rule; and even zealous Catholics shuddered at the 
thought of the Spanish Inquisition, looming up behind the 
Queen's hated Spanish bridegroom. 

Mary's persecution in itself was quite enough to rouse popu- 
lar fear and hatred- In a few months, more than two hundred 
and seventy martyrs were burned, — nearly half the entire 
number that suffered death for conscience' sake (avowedly) in 
all English history. Catholics had died for their faith under 
both Henry and Edward ; but there had been no such piling up 
of executions ; and, moreover, most of those Catholic victims 
had been put to death, nominally, not for religious opinions, 
but as detested traitors ; and the executions (with a very few 
exceptions) had taken place not by fu-e but by the more familiar 
headsman's ax. England had taken calmly the persecutions 
by these preceding sovereigns, but it was now" deeply stirred. 
The most famous martNTS were Archbishop Cranmer and 
Bishops Ridley and Latimer. Latimer had preached in ap- 
proval of the torture of Father Forest ; but now he showed 
at least that he too knew how to die a hero. " Play the man, 
Master Ridley," he called out to his companion as they ap- 
proached the stake ; " we shall this day, by God 's grace, light 
such a candle in England as, I trust, shall never be put out." 

Mary's un- Other causes, too, made the Queen unpopular. To please 
her husband, she led England into a silly and disastrous war 
with France, and then managed it blunderingly. England had 



popularity 



PLATE LVIII 



















-^ '^HHBSj 










'wwa 




m 




^^Bi 


^• 








' -d 


^ 


Mub 




^^^H 


fe^ft** 








jriiiH 


|H 


^^■9 




l^j^^^^H 


1 




1 


^ 


1 


1 


^Sffi. ^ 


4i 


9 








Above. — Ruins of Kenilworth Castle To-day. 

Below. — Kenilworth in 1620, from a fresco painting of that year. 
Queen Elizabeth gave this castle to her favorite, the Earl of Leicester, 
who entertained the Queen there with a splendid pageant described in 
Scott's Kenilworth. The walls enclosed seven acres. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH 343 

never seemed more contemptible to other nations ; and ap- 
parently, it was doomed to become the prey of Spain or France. 
Mary died after a troubled reign of five years. As Henry's 
parliaments had arranged, she was succeeded by her half-sister, 
Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Sy^^^ 
From her father, she had a strong body, a powerful intellect, an 1558-1603 
imperious will, and dauntless courage ; and from both parents, 
a sort of bold beauty and a strain of coarseness. She had grown 
up in Henry's court among the men of the New Learning, and 
was probably the best educated woman of her century, — 
speaking several languages and reading both Latin and Greek. 
She has been called "a true child of the Renaissance," too, in 
her freedom from moral scruple. To Elizabeth, says a great 
historian, "a lie was simply an intellectual means of avoiding 
a difficulty." 

She was often vacillating in policy ; but she was a keen judge 
of men, and had the good sense to keep about her a group of 
wise and patriotic counselors. Above all, she had a deep love 
for her country. After more than forty years of rule, she said 
proudly, and, on the whole, truly, — " I do call God to witness, 
never thought was cherished in my heart that tended not to 
my subjects' good." 

And England repaid her love with a passionate and romantic 
devotion to its "Virgin Queen." Except for her counselors, 
men knew little of Elizabeth's deceit and vulgarity and weak- 
nesses. They saw only that her long reign had piloted England 
safely through a maze of foreign perils, and had built up its 
power and dignity abroad and its unity and prosperity at home, 
while her court was made glorious by splendid bands of states- 
men, warriors, and poets. Except for the "Oxford Reformers" The 
(p. 323), England had lagged behind in the early Renaissance, Renaissance 
but now the Elizabethan Renaissance gave that land a first place 
in the movement. Edmund Spenser created a new form of 
English poetry in his Faerie Queene. And the splendor of the 
Elizabethan age found a climax in English drama, with Shak- 
spere as the most resplendent star in a glorious galaxy that 



344 



ENGLAND AND THE REFORMATION 



counted such other shining names as Marlowe, Greene, Beaumont, 
Fletcher, and Ben Jonson. Not less splendid, possibly even 
more important, was the scientific progress of Harvey and 




Shakspere's Theater, The Globe. — This structure was built in 1599, 
and was burned in 1613 from a fire caused by discharge of "cannon" in 
a presentation of the play of Henry VIII. 



The " Eliza- 
bethan 
Settlement " 



Francis Bacon (p. 358). Amid the petty squabbles of suc- 
ceeding reigns, England looked back \\'ith longing to "the 
spacious days of great P^lizabeth." 

When Elizabeth came to the throne, at least two thirds of England 
icas still Catholic in doctrine. Elizabeth herself had no liking 
for Protestantism, while she did like the pomp and ceremonial 
of the old church. She wanted neither the system of her sister 
nor that of her brother, but would have preferred to go back 
to that of her father. But the extreme Catholic party did not 
recognize her mother's marriage as valid, and so denied Eliza- 
beth's claim to the throne. This forced her to throw herself 
into the hands of the Protestants. She gave all chief offices in 
church and state to that active, intelligent, well-organized mi- 
nority ; and the " Elizabethan Settlement" established the Eng- 
lish Episcopal church much as it still stands. At about the 



QUEEN ELIZABETH 



345 



same time, John Knox brought Calvinism from Geneva to Scot- 
land, and organized the Scotch Presbyterian church. 

Early in Elizabeth's reign, an "Act of Uniformity" had 
ordered all people to attend the Protestant worship, under 
threat of extreme penalties ; but for many years this act was 



The Act of 
Uniformity 




Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury, — exhorting the land forces gathered there 
to resist a Spanish landing. The rallying of the Catholic gentry to this 
gathering, with their retainers, insured England's safety, even if the Ar- 
mada had not been destroyed at sea. 



not enforced strictly. After Catholic plots against her throne Persecution 
began, however, Elizabeth adopted strong measures. Many ,. traitors " 
leading Catholics were fined and imprisoned for refusing to 
attend the Englisli church. And, under a new law. Catholic 
priests, and others who made converts from Protestantism to 
Catholicism, were declared guilty of treason. Many martyrs 
suffered torture on the rack and death on the scaffold — nearly 
as many as had died in the persecution of " Bloody Mary " ; 



346 



ENGLAND AND THE REFORMATION 



The 
Spanish 
Armada, 
1588 



England 
becomes 
Protestant 



but Elizabeth, like her brother, succeeded in making such exe- 
cutions appear punishment of traitors. 

England was constantly threatened by the two great powers 
of Europe, Catholic France and Spain. Neither, however, was 
willing to see the other gain England ; and by skillfully playing 
off one against the other, Elizabeth kept peace for many years 
and gained time for England to grow strong. Gradually it 
became more and more clear that the real foe was Spain. Then 
Elizabeth secretly gave aid to the Dutch, who were in rebellion 
against Philip II of Spain (p. 348) ; and finally Philip launched 
his "Invincible Armada" for the conquest of England (1588). 
English ships of all sorts — mostly little merchant vessels 
hastily transformed into a war navy — gathered in the Channel ; 
and, to the amazement of the world, the small but swift and 
better handled English vessels completely outfought the great 
Spanish navy in a splendid nine days' sea fight. Spain nevei 
recovered her supremacy on the sea, — and the way was prepared 
for the English colonization of America. 

To the chagrin of Spanish king and Roman pope, the mass of 
English Catholics had proved more English than papal, and 
had rallied gallantly to the Queen ; and, for young Englishmen, 
the splendid struggle made Protestantism and patriotism seem 
much the same thing. The rising generation became largely 
Protestant; and before Elizabeth's death, even the Puritan 
doctrines from Gene\a and from Presbyterian Scotland had 
begun to spread widely among the people. 



Ireland 

remains 
Catholic 



Ireland, the third part of the British Isles, remained Catholic. 
Henry II (p. 285) had tried to conquer Ireland ; but, until the 
time of the Tudors, the English really held only a little strip 
of land (" the English Pale") near Dublin. The rest of Ireland 
remained in the hands of native chieftains ; but constant war 
rooted out the old beginnings of Irish culture. 

Henry VIII established English authority over most of the 
island and destroyed the monasteries, the chief remaining 
centers of industry and learning. Shortly before the Armada, 
Spain made attempts to use the island as a base from whidb 



IRELAND 347 

to attack England. Alarmed to frenzy by this deadly peril 
at their back door, Elizabeth's generals then completed the 
military subjugation with atrocious cruelties. Tens of thou- 
sands of men, women, and children were killed, or perished of 
famine in the Irish bogs ; and great districts of the country 
were given to English nobles and gentry. Incessant feuds 
continued between the peasantry and these absentee landlords, 
and the Irish nation looked on the attempt to introduce the 
Church of England as a part of the hated English tyranny. 
As English . patriotism became identified with Protestantism, 
so, even more completely, Irish patriotism became identified 
with Catholicism. 

For Further Reading. — Green's History of the English People is 
the best general account. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 



A CENTURY OF RELIGIOUS WARS 



PhiUp II 
of Spain 



The Dutch 
Rebellion 



Alvas 
Council of 
Blood 



When Philip II succeeded his father (p. 334) as king of Spain 
and of the Sicilies, and master of the Netherlands, he was the 
most powerful and most absolute monarch in Europe. The 
Spanish infantry were the finest soldiery in the world. The 
Spanish navy was the unquestioned mistress of the ocean. 
Each year the great "gold fleet" filled Philip's coffers from 
the exhaustless wealth of the Americas. In 1580 the ruling 
family in Portugal died out, and that throne (with Portugal's 
East India empire) was seized by Philip.^ The Spanish boast 
that the sun never set upon Spanish dominions became literal 
fact. 

Philip himself was a plodding, cautious toiler — despotic, 
cruel, unscrupulous. Charles V had disregarded the old liberties 
of the Netherlands and had set up the Inquisition in that coun- 
try with frightful consequences. Philip continued his father's 
abuses, without possessing any of his redeeming qualities in 
Dutch eyes. He was a foreign master — not a Hollander by 
birth as Charles had been — and he ruled from a distance 
and through Spanish officers. Finally, Protestant and Cath- 
olic nobles joined in demands for reform and especially that 
they might be ruled by officers from their own people. Philip's 
reply was to send the stern Spanish general, Alva, with a veteran 
army, to enforce submission. Alva's Council of Blood declared 
almost the whole population guilty of rebellion, and deserving 
of death with confiscation of goods. This atrocious sentence 
was enforced by butchery of great numbers — especially of the 
wealthy classes — and in 1568 a revolt began. 

The struggle between the little disunited provinces and the huge 
world-empire lasted forty years. In the beginning the conflict 

1 Portugal reestablished her independence, by revolt, in 1640. 

348 



THE DUTCH REBELLION 



349 



was for political liberty, but it soon became also a religious 
struggle. It was waged with an exasperated and relentless fury 
that made it a byword for ferocity even in that brutal age. City 
after city was given up to indiscriminate rapine and massacre, 
with deeds of horror indescribable. Over against this dark 




Francis Drake Knighted by Queen Elizabeth on the deck of his 
ship, the Golden Hind, at his return from raiding Spanish America in his 
voyage round the globe (1581). — From a contemporary drawing by Sir 
John Gilbert. Expeditions of this kind were one way in which English- 
men showed their sympathy for Holland while England was still nom- 
inally neutral. Of course they had much to do with provoking Spain to 
the attack by the Armada. 



side stands the stubborn heroism of the Dutch people, who saved William of 
not themselves only, but also the cause of Protestantism and ^^"^e 
of political liberty for the world. 

William, Prince of Orange, was the central hero of the conflict. 
Because he foiled his enemies so often by wisely keeping his plans 
to himself, he is known as William the Silent; and his persistency 
and statesmanship have fitly earned him the name " the Dutch 
Washington." Again and again, he seemed to be crushed ; but 
from each defeat he snatched a new chance for victory. 



350 



RELIGIOUS WARS 



The Relief 
of Leyden, 
1574 



England 
aids Holland 



Dutch Inde- 
pendence 



Holland's 

splendid 

period 



The turning 'point of the war was the relief of Leyden. For many 
months the city had been closely besieged. The people had 
devoured the cats and rats and were dying grimly of starvation. 
Once they murmured, but the heroic burgomaster (mayor) 
shamed them, declaring they might have his body to eat, but 
while he lived they should never surrender to the Spanish 
butchers. All attempts to relieve the perishing town had failed. 
But fifteen miles away, on the North Sea, rode a Dutch fleet 
with supplies. Then William the Silent cut the dikes and let 
in the ocean on the land. Over wide districts the prosperity 
of years was engulfed in ruin ; but the waves swept also over 
thfe Spanish camp, and upon the invading sea the relieWng ships 
rode to the city gates. Dutch liberty was saved. 

Holland had been fighting England's battle as well as her 
own : only the Dutch war had kept Philip from attacking Eng- 
land. Englishmen knew this ; and, for years, hundreds of 
English volunteers had been flocking to join the Dutch army. 
Elizabeth herself had many times helped the Dutch by secret 
supplies of money, and now in 1585 she sent a small English 
army to their aid. This was the immediate signal for the 
Spanish Armada ; and the overthixDw of Spain's naval suprem- 
acy by the splendid English sea dogs (p. 346) added tremen- 
dously to Holland's chances. True, the ten southern provinces 
of the old Netherlands finally gave up the struggle, and returned 
to Spanish allegiance. (They were largely French in race and 
Catholic in religion. Protestantism was now completely 
stamped out in them. After this time, they are known as the 
Spanish Netherlands, and finally as modern Belgium.) But the 
seven northern provinces — Dutch in blood and Protestant 
in religion — maintained the conflict, and won their independ- 
ence as The United Provinces, or the Dutch Republic.^ 

The most marvelous feature of the struggle betw^een the little 
Dutch state and Spain was that Holland grew wealthy during 
the contest, although the stage of the desolating war. The 

* The government consisted of a representative "States General" and a 
" Stadtholder " (President). The most important of the seven provinces 
was Holland, by whose name the union was often known. 



f I t 

THE NETHERLANDS 

at the Truce of 1609 

r54- SCALE OF MILES — 



X-he.Seven United Provinces I 

yjie. Provinces atitl Retained by Spaini 



^ • 




53- 



^ 



^ 







«; r<»iiiii;E<'i!* o I 






-< <. 




r F 1. A .\ h E $; s :^ /^Maa.tdohtj H % %<A^ 



-5t 



A I{ 'J' O 1 S '■. VaUncKiuic:- 

A I > A I I I 



I '/ , _ Arras '"''ll 



^ I C A R D 







d; OJ 




THE DUTCH REPUBLIC 



351 



Dutch drew their riches not from the wasted land, but from the 
sea ; and during the war they plundered the possessions of Spain 
in the East Indies. The little republic built up a vast colonial 
empire ; and, especially after Spain 's naval supremacy had been 
engulfed with the Armada, the Dutch held almost a monopoly 



■ 






Wjig ' .'.'^^m ^^ 1^^ ^^*^^^^ '.'ftJIWllHlBS^^^^^ 




PW.-,.,-.^, ^^ .^,,,, n^^^j^M,,,,,^^ •-—■-.^^^r^'flwSr^ 


^^p"^ 


-':;■ ■— '---v- ■' - :^^?is«iy^;':,,"' ^"': ' 


- 


■ . 



Dutch Windmills (near Molen). — In the sixteenth century, as now, such 
windmills in great numbers were used to pump surplus water out of the 
canals back into the ocean. They are a characteristic feature of thai 
Qountry "where the hulls of ships at anchor on the sea are higher than 
the steeples of the churches." 



of the Asiatic trade for all Europe. One hundred thousand of 
their three million people lived constantly upon the sea. Suc- 
cess in so heroic a war stimulated the people to a wonderful 
activity. Holland taught all Europe scientific agriculture 
and horticulture, as w^ell as the science of navigation, and in 
the seventeenth century her presses put forth more books than 
all the rest of Europe. 

On the other hand, Spain sank rapidly into a second-rate Spain's 
power. The bigot, Philip III, drove into exile the Christianized ^^^^ 
Moors, the descendants of those Mohammedans left behind 
when the Moorish political power had been driven out. They 



352 



RELIGIOUS WARS, 1546-1648 



numbered perhaps a twentieth of the entire population, — and 
they were the foremost agriculturists and almost the sole 
skilled artisans and manufacturers. Their pitiless expulsion 
inflicted a deadly blow upon the prosperity of Spain. For a 
time the wealth she drew from iVmerica concealed her fall. But 
after the Armada she never played a great part in Europe, and, 
living on the plunder of the New World, she failed to develop the 
industrial life which alone could furnish a true prosperity. 
Moreover, the Inquisition steadily " sifted out the most flexible 
minds and the stoutest hearts," until a once virile race sank 
into apathy and decay. 



Religious 
war in 
France, 
I 562-1 598 



Henry IV 



Edict of 
Nantes 



Another religious struggle (1562-1598) long desolated France 
— between the Huguenots (the French Calvinists) and their 
persecutors. This strife was complicated by personal rivalries 
between groups of great lords, and, even worse than the other 
wars of the period, it was marked by assassinations and treach- 
eries — the most horrible of which was the famous Massacre 
of St. Bartholomew's Day (August 24, 1572) in which 10,000 
Huguenots perished. 

Their leader, however, young Henry of Navarre, escaped, 
and, on the death of the childless French king in 1589, he be- 
came heir to the throne. Philip of Spain, to prevent his accession, 
gave aid to the Catholic lords ; but now Philip met the third of 
the great leaders on whom his schemes went to wreck. Henry 
drove the Spanish army in shameful rout from France in the 
dashing cavalry battle of Ivry. Then, to secure Paris, which he 
had long besieged (and to give peace to his distracted country), 
he accepted Catholicism, declaring lightly that " so fair a city " 
was " well worth a mass." 

In 1 598 Henry's Edict of Nantes established toleration for the Hu- 
guenots. (1) They were granted full equality before the law. 
(Before this, the forms of oaths required in law courts had been 
such as a Protestant could not take, and therefore a Huguenot 
could not sue to recover property.) (2) They were to have per- 
fect liberty of conscience in private, and to enjoy the privilege of 
public worship except in the cathedral cities. And (3) certain 



X 






'^ 


S^^'*-- , 


M ' .^^^^'^feb. ; 


^..■.ifegi*-x43; 1 







—4 


fl) 


75 


•-5 


'/J 


,^ 


n» 


i^ 




-O 






■n 


till 


3 








•-'-' 


-l-J 


;_, 


CI 


=) 


r| 


o 


a 


^ 












•/J 


;^ 


1— ( 


O 


- 


73 




o 




rt 










o 


<! 


T3 




j3 




r« 


«« 


t/J 


" 


S3 


m 




s 


fl 


C3 


03 


bfl 




b4 


m 


3 




O 






o3 ^ 


a 


»j 


03 


;3 


>j 


td 






a) 


-*-> 


-»j 


(/J 


c3 


y3 


'n 




O 


=^ 




^ 




OJ 


^ 


^ 


>s 


^ 








OJ 






o 




a; 


^^ 


a 


fl) 


X 

© 


^ 



O) ^ 



fcD 



HH ^ 









Ph 







THE HUGUENOT.S 353 

towns were handed over to them, to hold witli their own gar- 
risons, as security for their rights. 

Henry IV proved one of the greatest of French kings, and he Henry and 
was one of the most loved. With his sagacious minister, the " ^ 
D^ike of Sully, he set himself to restore prosperity to desolated 
France. Roads and canals were built ; new trades were 
fostered ; and the industry of the French people once more with 
marvelous rapidity removed the evil results of the long strife. 

Henry's son, Louis XIII, came to the throne in 1610 as a Cardinal 
boy of nine. Anarchy again raised its head ; but France was '^ ® ®^ 
saved by the commanding genius of Cardinal Richelieu, the chief 
minister of the young king. Richelieu was a sincere patriot, 
and, though an earnest Catholic, his statesmanship was guided 
by political, not by religious, motives. He crushed the great 
nobles and he waged war upon the Huguenots to deprive them 
of their garrisoned towns, which menaced the unity of France. 
But when he had captured their cities and held the Huguenots 
at his mercy, he kept toward them in full the other pledges of 
the Edict of Nantes. At the same time, he aided the German 
Protestants against the Catholic emperor, in the religious war 
that was going on in Germany, and so secured a chance to seize 
territory from the Empire for France. 

The period of the religious wars in the Netherlands and France The Thirty 
had been a period of uneasy peace in Germany ; but now came jn^Qermanv 
in that land the last of the great religious wars — just a hundred 
years after Luther posted his theses at Wittenberg. 

This Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) arose directly out of 
an attempt of Protestant Bohemia to make itself independent 
of the Catholic Hapsburg Empire. Bohemian independence 
lasted only a few weeks ; but this was long enough to call all 
Germany into two armed camps. The Protestant German 
princes, however, showed themselves disunited and timid ; and, 
had the war been left to Germany, a Catholic victory would 
soon have been assured. But all over Europe sincere and religious 
Protestants felt deeply and truly that the war against the Catholic 
Hapsburgs was their own war — much as all free peoples felt 



354 



RELIGIOUS WARS, 1546-1648 



Wallenstein 
and 

Gustavus 
Adolphus 



Devastation 
of Germany 



in the World War when Hberty was imperiled by Hohenzollern 
autocracy. First Denmark (1625-1629) and then Sweden 
(1630) entered the field in behalf of the Protestant cause ; and 
at last (1635-1648), for more selfish reasons, Catholic France un- 
der Richelieu threw its weight also against the Hapsburgs who 
so long had ringed France about with hostile arms. 

The war was marked by the careers of four great generals, 
— Tilly and Wallenstein on the imperial side, and Gustavus 
Adolphus, king of Sweden, " the Lion of the North," and Mans- 
feld, on the side of the Protestants. Gustavus was at once 
great and admirable ; but he fell at the battle of Liitzen (1632) 
in the moment of victory ; and thereafter the struggle was as 
dreary as it was terrible. Mansfeld and Wallenstein from the 
first deliberately adopted the policy of making the war pay, by 
supporting their armies everywhere upon the country ; but during 
the short career of Gustavus, his blond Swede giants were held 
in admirable discipline, with the nearest approach to a regular 
commissariat that had been known since Roman times. (Gus- 
tavus' success, too, was due largely to new tactics. Muskets, 
fired by a "match" and discharged from a "rest," had become 
an important portion of every army ; but troops were still 
massed in the old fashion that had prevailed when pike- 
men were the chief infantry. Gustavus was the first gen- 
eral to adapt the arrangement of his troops to the new 
weapons.) 

The calamities the war brought were monstrous. Season by 
season, for a generation, armies of ruthless freebooters harried 
the land. The peasant found that he toiled only to feed robbers 
and to draw them to outrage and torture his family ; so he 
ceased to labor, and became himself robber or camp-follower. 
Half the population and two thirds the movable property of Ger- 
many ivcre swept away. In many large districts, the facts were 
worse than this average. In Bohemia, thirty thousand happy 
villages had shrunk to six thousand miserable ones, and the 
rich promise of the great L^niversity of Prague was ruined. 
Everywhere populous cities shriveled into hamlets ; and for 
miles upon miles, former hamlets were the lairs of wolf packs. 



X 



Ph 







o 


G 




O 




C 


^ 


O 






»— 1 


o 








-tJ 


_; 


VW 




O 


3 




71 






:3 


25 


o 






bO 


Wl 




tfl 


tS- 




'2 


^ 


h-i 


TJ 




o 


>.T! 


^ 


c 




:3 


hfl 


o 


'-3 


3 


rj 


7J 


& 


OT 


53 




^ 


< 


T3 




C 


1 


c3 


5^ 


ri 


^ 


t*H 




o 
o 


-1 





P o 





&, -o 




J o 




O tD 




3 =3 




o 




11 


*: 


p w 

M 

St^ 


^^f| 


^ 3 




oo 




&< tyo 




o a 






.• k 


aW 




H ^ 




< h 


> 


a i^ 


^ 










w t> 




a 



PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 355 

Not until 1850 did some sections of Germany again contain Peace of 
as many homesteads and cattle as in 1618. ^^ ^ ^ ** 

The war was closed by the Peace of Westphalia, — drawn up 
by a congress of ambassadors from nearly every European power. 
This treaty contained three distinct classes of stipulations: 
provisions for religious peace in Germany ; territorial rewards 
for France and Sweden ; and provisions to secure the independ- 
ence of the German princes against the Empire. 

1. The principle of the Peace of Augsburg was reaffirmed and 
extended. Each sovereign prince in Germany was to choose his 
religion ; and his subjects were to have three years to conform 
to his choice or to withdraw from his realm. ^ 

2. Sweden, which was already a great Baltic power, extending 
around both the east and west shores of that sea (p. 266), secured 
also much of the south coast (with control over German com- 
merce) : Pomerania — with the mouths of the Oder, Elbe, and 
Weser — was the payment she received for her part in the war. 
France annexed most of Alsace, with some fortresses on the Ger- 
man bank of the Rhine. (The Congress also expressly recognized 
the independence of Switzerland and of the Dutch Provinces.) 

3. The Empire lost more than mere territory. The separate 
states were given the right to form alliances with one another 
or even with foreign powers The imperial Diet became avowedly 
a gathering of ambassadors for discussion, not for govern- 
ment : no state was to be bound by decisions there without 
its own consent. 

The religious wars filled a. century — from the struggle between Conditions 
the German princes and Charles V (1546) to the Peace of West- ^J ^^^ f^^^^ 
phalia (1648). They left the Romance ^ South of Europe Catholic, ligious wars 
and the Teutonic North Protestant. France emerged, more 
united than ever, quite equal in power to any two states of 

1 Many of the South German Protestants were then driven into exile by 
their Catholic lords. This was the first cause of the coming to America of 
the "Pennsylvania Dutch." 

2 Romance is a term applied to those European peoples and languages 
closely related to the old Roman rule — like the Italians, Spanish, and 
French. 



356 RELIGIOUS WARS, 1546-1648 

Europe. England and Sweden had both risen into "Great 
Powers." Two new federal republics had been added to the 
European family of nations, — Switzerland and the United 
Provinces ; and the second of these w^as one of the leading 
"Powers." The danger of a universal Hapsburg empire was 
forever gone. Spain, the property of one Hapsburg branch, 
had sunk to a third-rate powder ; the Holy Roman Empire, the 
realm of the other branch, was an open sham. Far to the east 
loomed indistinctly a huge and growing Russian state. 

Exercise. — Dates to be added to the list for drill, — 1520, 1588, 
1648. 

For Further Reading. — The Student's Motley is an admirable 
and brief condensation of the American Motley's great history of the 
Dutch Republic. Willert's Henry of Navarre is a brilliant story. 



PAET IX -FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 
TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 16481789 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 
SCIENCE AND TRADE 

The hundred years of ruinous rehgious wars and bloody per- 
secution, almost without notice at the time, was also an age of 
splendid advance in science and in trade, — changes either of 
which was to modify the life of men and women in the future 
more than the wars of Wallenstein and Gustavus. 

I. SCIENTIFIC ADVANCE 

The true astronomy of Aristarchus (p. 146) had long been Copernicus 
lost, and all through the Middle Ages men believed the earth ^^ system 
the center of the universe with sun and stars revolving around 
it. But in 1543 a Polish astronomer, Copernicus, published a 
book proving that the earth was only one member of a solar 
system which had the sun for a center. 

From fear of persecution, Copernicus had kept his discovery 
to himself for many years — until just before his death, when 
the "religious wars" were just beginning. Those wars them- 
selves checked study and discovery in parts of Europe ; and 
persecution, for a while, repressed scientific discoveries in Cath- 
olic countries. At the opening of the Renaissance (p. 31.5) 
the popes had been the foremost patrons of the new learning ; 
but now the reaction against the Protestant revolt had thrown 
control into conservative hands, and the church used its tre- 
mendous powers to stifle new scientific discoveries. 

Still much was done. In Elizabeth's day in England, the 
physician, William Harvey, discovered the truth about the 

357 



358 



SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS 



Harvey and 
the circula- 
tion of the 
blood 



GaUleo 



The 

method of 
experiment 



circulation of the blood/ and so made possible modern medicine. 
And in Italy Galileo discovered the laws of falling bodies and 
of the pendulum (as they are now taught in our text-books on 
physics), invented the thermometer, and, taking a hint from 
a Dutch plaything, constructed the first real telescope. With 
this, in 1610, he demonstrated the truth of Copernicus' teachings 
by showing the "phases" of the planet Venus in its revolution 
about the sun. True, Galileo was summoned to Rome by the 
pope, imprisoned, and forced publicly to recant his teaching 
that the earth moved around the sun; but, as he rose from 
his knees, he whispered to a friend — " None the less, it does 
move." 

And more important than any specific discovery about sun 
or the human body was the discovery of a new ivay of finding 
out truth about the world. For centuries scholars had tried 
to learn only by reading ancient authorities, and perhaps by 
reasoning a little further, in their own minds, upon what these 
authorities taught. But the new discoveries had been made 
in another way ; and now, Francis Bacon, in England, set forth 
eloquently the necessity of experiment to discover new facts. 
And before 1700, in Ital}^ France, and England, great scientific 
societies were founded, to encourage scientific investigation. 



II. "BUSINESS" BECOMES A FORCE IN LIFE 

The second great change that marked this otherwise dismal 
century was the growing influence in human life of what we 
call business. " Business " had been almost unknown and wholly 
without influence during the early Middle Ages, and during 
the later centuries of that period it had existed upon a small 
scale only. How the barbarian invasions and the violence of 
the "Dark Ages" destroyed the old Roman town life in Western 
Europe has been briefly told, and also how after the Crusades 
a new trade began to build towns anew. But for some centuries. 



1 For centuries men had believed that the bright blood of the arteries and 
the dark blood of the veins were two distinct systems (one from the heart, 
the other from the liver) . Harvey proved that this was all one system and 
that the dark blood was purified in the lungs. 




r '■^■\' 






< 



<5 
< 






^:;*-^'. 



^■.fe'ii. 






HINDRANCES IN MIDDLE AGES 359 

by our standards, these new towns were few and small, even 
in proportion to the small population of Europe in that day. 

During the Middle Ages there were five special hindrances to 
trade. 

1. The first was the continued violence of the feudal baron. Hindrances 

who long looked upon the trader as an escaped serf and there- *° ^"^'" 

fore as his natural prey. In England, noble and townsman the Middle 

were far less hostile than on the continent; but an event in ^^^f\ 

. feudal 

England, as late as the time of Edward I (1300), shows this violence 
class war even there. The town of Boston was holding a great 
fair.^ Citizens, of course, guarded its gates zealously against 
any hostile intruders, but an armed band of country gentle- 
men (of the "noble" class) got through in the disguise of play 
actors. When darkness fell, they began their horrible work of 
murder and plunder. They fired every booth, slaughtered the 
merchants, and hurried the booty to ships ready at the quay. 
The horror-stricken people of other towns told how streams of 
molten gold mingled with rivers of blood in the gutters. 

True, King Edward, under whose license the fair had been 
promised protection, proved strong enough to hang the leaders 
of these "gentlemen." But in Germany, at the same period, 
like events followed one another in horril)le panorama. The 
towns shut out the " noble knights " by walls and guards. But 
from their castle crags the knights swooped down upon unwary 
townsmen who ventured too near, and even upon armed cara- 
vans of traders, to rob and murder, or to carry off for ransom. 
Such unhappy captives were loaded with rusty chains that ate 
into the flesh, and were left in damp and filthy dungeons — 
so that to "rot a peasant" became a by-word.^ 

1 Large cities, at fixed times, held great fairs, lasting many days, for all 
the small places in the neighboring regions, — since the villages and small 
towns had either no shops or small ones with few goods. Merchants from 
all the kingdom — and, indeed, sometimes from all Europe, — journeyed to 
such fairs w4th their goods, to reap a harvest from the country folk who 
crowded about their booths. The town took toll for these booths, and usu- 
ally itself paid king or noble a license fee for security. 

2 At sea the trader's perils were even greater. There were as yet no light- 
houses and no charts to mark dangerous reefs, and the waters swarmed with 
pirates, led often by some neighboring noble. 



360 



PROGRESS OF TRADE 



Tolls 



2. Gradually, the robber barons learned that it did not pay 
to kill the goose that laid golden eggs, and the land pirates 
softened their methods. The new monarchies, too, put an end 
to feudal violence. But the trader, though no longer likely to 
be robbed of all his goods at one time, was still compelled to 
surrender parts of them repeatedly in tolls at every bridge or 




Lack of 
money 



Ruins of a Rhine Castle, above a modern town. 

ferry or ford, at the gate of every town, at the foot of every castle 
hill by which the rough pack-horse trail wound its way. The 
collection of such tolls, too, was marked often by all sorts of 
vexatious delays and by intentional injury to the remaining 
goods, unless the helpless trader bribed the official who did the 
work with added goods or coin for his private use. (Such tolls 
grew up by custom, imposed by local authorities. They had no 
sanction from any central or national government ; but neither 
did the governments materially interfere to abolish them un- 
til toward 1700. In England this evil never reached such serious 
proportions as on the continent.) 

3. And when the patient trader had carried his diminished 
wares past all these perils to people who wished to buy, too 



DURING THE RENAISSANCE 361 

often the would-be customers had no money. Wealth they 
had, perhaps, in land or in goods, but not in any portable form 
that the trader could afford to take in pay. This lack of money 
was for centuries (pp. 235, 272) a serious hindrance. In Europe 
the ancient mines of gold and silver were exhausted, and there 
was no supply of precious metals from which to coin enough 
money for the demands of trade. 

4. A large part of what little money there was remained in idle money, 
hiding, buried perhaps in the earth for safe keeping. The man "sury " 
who had coin, but who did not need to use it himself, had no 
inducement, as now, to lend it to some one who did want to 
use it. Interest ("usury'') was unlawful. The whole Christian 
world believed that God forbade man to take pay for the use 
of money. Therefore the Jews (outside this Christian faith) 
were the only money-lenders of the Middle Ages until almost 
the close ; and they, robbed at every turn themselves by king 
and baron, loaned only at ruinous rates rising usually to about 
fifty per cent a year.^ 

To be sure, in the thirteenth century Italian money-lenders 
(Lombards) began in a small degree to supply the place of modern 
bank loans by a quaint evasion of the belief about usury. They 
established moneyed colonies in the chief towns of Europe,^ and 
loaned money on good security without interest for a short time 
(a week or a month, perhaps) ; but, when not repaid on time, 
they then exacted a heavy penalty, previously agreed upon, 
for each month's delay. The Christian world found it con- 
venient to accept this subterfuge, but it was still some centuries 
before the old beliefs and laws against usury were openly aban- 
doned. 

1 The Christian worid in the most un-Christian spirit despised and per- 
secuted the whole Jewish race on the ground that some of their distant an- 
cestors had persecuted Jesus. In every Western European land, a Jew was 
compelled by law to wear a special cap or other clothing to mark his race, 
and to live in a special quarter of the towns in which he was permitted to 
live at all (the Ghetto). He was forbidden to own land or to enter any 
trade gild ; and so was forced to live by lending money — which increased 
the popular hatred and led to many massacres in England and France like 
those which the Jews have had to suffer in recent years in Russia and Po- 
land. 

2 " Lombard Street " in London has remained a great money center. 



362 



PROGRESS OF TRADE 



Crude 

banking 

methods 



Gild 
restrictions 



A summary 
of the 
growth of 
trade to 
1500 A.D. 



In some other respects, too, the Lombards revived for Western 
Europe the elementary banking system of the old Roman Empire 
(see Ancient World), which had never died entirely in Italy and 
the Greek Empire. A merchant in Boulogne might come to 
owe a London merchant a large sum. To carry the coin from one 
city to another for each transaction grew more and more impos- 
sible as business grew. But now the Boulogne merchant merely 
paid the amount into the Lombard " bank" in his city (plus some 
"premium" for the bank's service) and received a written 
"order" for the money on a London Lombard house. This 
written "bill of exchange" would then be sent to the London 
creditor, who could get his money on presenting it at his London 
"bank." The London bank would have frequent occasion, 
in like fashion, to sell drafts upon the Boulogne bank. Then 
at some convenient time the two banking houses would settle 
their balance in coin ; but the amount to be carried from one to 
the other would be small, compared to the total amount of bus- 
iness it represented. This practice was a tremendous help to 
business — far short as it fell of our complicated "credit" 
systems by which we make one dollar do the work of many dol- 
lars. 

5. And finally the gild rules absolutely prevented what we 
call "wholesale" business in most towns. Those rules (for a 
"just price" and to prevent monopoly) had been highly bene- 
ficial when they were adopted, but now they were hindrances 
to the new methods called for by the conditions of the new day. 

In spite of all such obstacles trade had grown slowly from the 
Crusades to Columbus. Even in the Dark Ages, Venice and 
Genoa and a few other Italian cities had kept some of their an- 
cient trade with the Orient — by fleets of ships that met the 
Arabian caravans on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean ; 
and after the Crusades this trade spread west from Italy down 
the Rhine through Germany and France and the Netherlands, 
and thence across the Channel to England, and, through the 
Hansa merchants, even to the Baltic lands. This trade, too, had 
made life over in Western Europe, not merely by bringing in new 



AFTER COLUMBUS 363 

luxuries and comforts, but much more by stirring men up to 
new activities and by awakening new energies. The isolation 
of the old manor and village life vanished, and its dull apathy 
went witli it. To satisfy desires for the new foreign products, 
the people of the village must themselves produce more than 
before, and usually something different from before, in order 
to have wherewith to buy. So new manufactures were built 
up ; and soon, in many places, the men of the West began to 
manufacture for themselves the coveted glassware and silks 
and velvets and fine linens which at first had come only through 
rare traders. Thus, for the more energetic and stronger of the 
town people, life became more hopeful and more strenuous, as well 
as vastly more comfortalile. 

Most of these commodities, however, were still supplied by trade Trade needs 
with the East ; and some things, like sugar, drugs, and spices, discovery of 
could be secured in no other way. How the old routes for ^ew worlds 
this trade were closed one by one in the fifteenth century, 
and how the demand for new trade routes played a part in the 
raising of the curtain upon new worlds, east and west, has been 
told. And then indeed, after 1500, and especially after 1600, 
did trade come into its kingdom. The new monarchies (p. 319) Business 
stamped out feudal plunder and soon checked feudal tolls ; the saddle " 
growing banking system furnished credits and security ; and 
now the rich mines of Mexico and Peru poured a steady stream 
of gold and silver into Spain, whence the needed coin filtered 
into other parts of Europe to fertilize trade. The merchants,^ 
each with his retinue of adventurous and loyal ship-captains 
at sea and of skilled and trusted clerks on land, rose suddenly 
into a new estate — as distinct from the ordinary burgher as 
the burgher three centuries before had seemed from the villein. 
In 1350, a royal inquiry listed only 169 merchants in England. 
In 1600, twenty times that number were occupied with the Hol- 
land trade alone, while large stock-companies of other merchants 
were trading with Russia, India, and North America. France, 
Holland, England, Sweden, Denmark, each had its " East India 
Company," and most of these countries had trading companies 
1 A merchant was a trader with a foreign country. 



364 



SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE 



chartered by the kings for trade with other distant parts of 
the earth. Single merchants, too, sometimes owned large fleets 
for such trade, like Shakspere's Antonio in The Merchant of 
Venice. 

Except for land, this class had more wealth by far than the 
nobles themselves, and lived with greater comfort. The kings, 
too, found the merchants a convenient source of revenue, and 
were inclined to favor them against the less profitable though 
socially superior nobles. Rising merchant class and decaying 
noble class hated and feared each other. Indeed, the mer- 
chants, alive to new ideas, made the strength of the Reformation 
everywhere outside of Germany ; and the cruelty of the Spanish 
nobles toward the Dutch Protestants, and of French nobles 
toward the Huguenots, was due in part to their detestation for 
these ambitious rivals. 



The change 
in English 
rural 
industry 



The " inclo- 
sures " after 
1500 AD. 



A great social change, like the rise of this new business society, 
is likely to be accompanied, for a time at least, by a sad depres- 
sion of some other class. This social fact is illustrated by the 
story of English industry, in this age. 

The golden age for English peasants was the half century from 
1450 to 1500, just after the disappearance of villeinaget The 
small farmer lived in rude abundance ; and even the farm la- 
borer had his cow, sheep, or geese on the common, his four- acre 
patch of garden about his cabin, and good wages for his labor 
on the landlord's fields. Sir John Fortescue (p. 310) boasts 
of this prosperity, as compared with that of the French 
peasantry : " They [English peasants] drink no water, unless 
at times by way of penance. They are fed in great abundance 
with all kinds of flesh and fish. They are clothed in good 
woolens. . . . Every one, according to his rank, hath all things 
needful to make life easy and happy." 

The large landlords had been relatively less prosperous. Since 
the rise of their old laborers out of villeinage, they were " land- 
poor." They paid high wages, while under the wasteful common- 
field system, crops were small. But by 1500 a change be- 
gan which enriched the landlords and cruelly depressed the 



IN ENGLAND AFTER 1600 365 

peasants. This change was the process of "inclosures" for 
sheep-raising. There was a steady demand for wool at good 
prices to supply the Flemish markets, and enterprising land- 
lords began to raise sheep instead of grain. Large flocks could 
be cared for by a few hands, so that the high wages mattered 
less ; and profits proved so enticing that soon there was a mad 
rush into the new industry. 

But sheep-raising called for large tracts of land. It was pos- 
sible only for the great landlords ; and even these were obliged 
to hedge in their share of the common "fields." Therefore, 
as far as possible, they turned out small tenants whose holdings 
interfered with such "inclosures," and often they inclosed also 
the woodlands and meadows, in disregard of ancient rights of 
common pasture. Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia, lamented 
these conditions bitterly : 

"A careless and unsatiable cormorant may compass about and in- 
close many thousand acres within one pale, and the husbandmen be 
thrust out of their own ; or else by fraud, or violent oppression, or by 
wrongs and injuries, they be so worried that they be compelled to sell. . . . 
They [the landlords] throw down houses ; they pluck down towns [vil- 
lages], and leave nothing standing but only the church, to be made a 
sheep-house." 

Other statesmen, too, bewailed that sheep should take the Passing of 
place of the yeomanry who had won Crecy, and who, Bacon 
said, were also " the backbone of the revenue" ; and the govern- 
ment made many attempts to check inclosures. But law availed 
nothing ; nor did peasant risings and riots help. Inclosures 
went on until the profits of sheep-raising and grain-raising found 
a natural level. 

This came to pass before 1600. The wool market was sup- 
plied ; the growth of town populations raised the price of grain ; 
and the land changes created a wealthy landed gentry, to take 
a glittering part in society and politics. But this new "pros- 
perity" had a somber background. Half of the villages in Eng- 
land had lost heavily in population, and many had been wholly 
swept away. Great numbers of the peasants, driven from their 
homes, became " sturdy beggars" (tramps) ; atid all laborers were 



the free 
farmers 



366 



SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE 



thrust down to a loiver standard of life, because the cost of food and 
clothing rose twice as fast as wages. Indeed, the gentleman 
"justices of the peace," apiwinted by the crown, were given 
power to fix wages for farm work. And when tramps spread 
terror through the rural districts, the justices hanged them in 
batches. In fifty years, in the glorious day of Shakspere and 
Elizabeth, seventy thousand "beggars" were executed. 



Growth of 
manufac- 
tures 



And of 
commerce 



End of the 
gild system 
in England 



Meantime, England was becoming a manufacturing country. 
From the time of the Yorkist kings, the sovereigns had made 
the towns their special care. Elizabeth welcomed gladly the 
skilled workmen driven from the Netherlands by the Spanish 
wars, and from France by the persecution of the Huguenots. 
Colonies of these foreign artisans were given their special quarter 
in many an English city, v.ith many favors, and were encouraged 
to set up there their manufactures, of which England had pre- 
viously known almost nothing. Soon, English wool was no 
longer sold abroad. It was worked up at home. These new 
manufactures gave employment to great numbers of work- 
men, and finally absorbed the classes driven from the land. 

And in turn, this manufacturing fostered commerce. By 
1600, England was sending, not merely raw materials as for- 
merly, but her finished products, to distant markets. And 
then, by purchase of land and by royal gifts from the confis- 
cated church property, the members of the new merchant class 
rose into the new gentry, and their capital and energy helped to 
restore prosperity to the land. 

At the same time the rapid growth of manufactures worked 
a favorable change in the life of the workers. The gild system, 
wdth its vexing rules, broke down in England (though retained 
much longer on the continent), and was replaced by the so- 
called "domestic system." Manufacturing w^as still carried on 
by hand, and mainly in the master's house ; but the masters se- 
cured freedom from gild control and rapidly introduced im- 
proved methods. Nearly two centuries later in Paris a hatter won 
great popularity by making better hats than his competitors, — 
mixing silk with his wool ; but his jealous gild brothers had his 



IN ENGLAND AFTER 1600 367 

entire stock destroyed, completely ruining him, because he 
had broken the gild rules requiring that hats should be made 
of "pure wool." This illustrates only one of the countless out- 
grown restrictions from which English manufacturers escaped 
about 1600. 

But the very success of Europe in winning the long-needed The 

money for its trade had led men into a new and mischievous de- Z^?J^^^~ 

tile theory 

lusion. For some two hundred years after 1600, every one who 

thought upon such matters at all, beheved that money (instead 

of being merely a convenient measure for wealth) was itself the 

only real wealth. Under the influence of this '' Mercantile " 

theory, the new nations began at once to build up new barriers 

against foreign trade — less hurtful, to be sure, than the old feudal 

toll system, but harmful enough to curse the world down to ' 

the present day. Governments long believed that the only way 

a country could get riches was not by producing more goods 

or by saving more of what it had, but by getting more gold and 

silver money. 

Each country accordingly sought to avoid bringing in imports 
— as though it could always sell without ever buying. Each 
sought, too, to get colonial possessions in the new worlds that 
might supply it with gold and silver, or at least with those arti- 
cles which otherwise had to be imported from foreign lands. 
And, of course, each tried to keep its colonies from buying from 
any one but the "mother" country. This false "political 
economy" was soon to lead to a century of new wars, and still 
hinders real brotherhood among men. 

Exercise. — Compare this English inclosure movement with that in 
Italy in the time of the Gracchi, and explain why finally it was less 
ruinous. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 



PURITANISM AND POLITICS IN ENGLAND 
I. UNDER THE FIRST STUARTS, 1603-1642 



The English 
church in 
1600 



" Low- 
church " 
Puritans 



The 
Separatists 



England escaped a strictly "religious" war; but for two 
generations after 1600 the burning questions in politics as 
in religion had to do with Puritanism. Within the established 
Episcopal church the dominant party had strong " High-church " 
leanings. It wished to restore so far as possible the ceremo- 
nial of the old Catholic church, and it taught that the govern- 
ment of the church by bishops had been directly ordained 
by God. This party was ardently supported by the royal 
"head of the church" — Elizabeth, James, Charles, in turn; 
but it was engaged in constant struggle with a large, aggres- 
sive Puritan party. The same two parties had also sharp political 
differences, and the strife finally became civil war. 

Two groups of Puritans stood in sharp opposition to each 
other, — the influential "Low-church" element within the 
church, and the despised Separatists outside of it. The Low- 
churchmen had no wish to separate church and state. They 
wanted one national church — a Low-church church — to 
which everybody within England should be forced to conform. 
They desired also to introduce more preaching into the serv- 
ice, to simplify ceremonies, and to abolish altogether certain 
customs which they called "Romish," — the use of the sur- 
plice, and of the ring in marriage, of the sign of the cross in 
baptism, atnd (some of them) of the prayer-book. There was even 
a subdivision among them inclined to the Presbyterian church govern- 
ment, as it existed in Scotland. 

The Independents, or "Puritans of the Separation," be- 
lieved that there should be no national church, but that each 
local religious organization should be a little democratic so- 
ciety, wholly separate from the civil government, and even 

368 



UNDER THE FIRST STUARTS 369 

independent of other churches. These Independents were 
the Puritans of the Puritans. To all other sects they seemed 
mere anarchists in religion. Elizabeth persecuted them 
savagely, and her successor continued that policy. Some 
of the Independent churches fled to Holland ; and one of them, 
from Scrooby in northern England, after staying several 
years at Leyden, founded Plymouth in America (the "Pilgrims'* 
of 1620). 

Political liberty in England had fallen loiv under the Tudors Political 
(p. 311); but, after all, Henry VIII and Elizabeth had ruled in i6oo°^^ 
absolutely, only because they jnade use of constitutional forms 
and because they possessed a shrewd tact which taught them 
just where to stop. Moreover, toward the close of Elizabeth's 
reign, when foreign perils were past, men spoke again boldly 
of checks upon the royal power. 

Elizabeth was succeeded by James I (James Stuart), al- The 

ready king of Scotland (footnote, p. 339). James was learned . Z^^"®' 

and conceited, — " the wisest fool in Christendom," as Henry Stuart 

IV of France called him. He believed sincerely in the "di- ^^^ 

vine right" of kings. That is, he believed that the king, as 

God's anointed, was the source of law and could not himself be 

controlled by law. He wrote a pompous and tiresome book 

to prove this. He and his son after him were despots on 

principle. The nation had been growing restive under the And the 

cloaked, beneficent, elastic tyrannv of the strong Tudors : ^'^sljsh 

. . " . . people 

naturally it rose in fierce opposition agamst the noisy, needless, 

and uncompromising tyranny of the weak Stuarts. 

There were, as yet, no organized political parties. But The germs 
there was a court party, devoted to the royal power, consist- par^i*eV 
ing of most of the nobles and of the " High-church" clergy; 
and an opposition country party, consisting of the merchants, 
the mass of country gentry, and the Puritan element gen- 
erally. The issue between the two was promptly stated. Even be- 
fore his first Parliament met, James I, in a famous utter- 
ance, summed up his theory: "As it is atheism and bias- 



370 PURITANISM AND POLITICS IN ENGLAND 



Struggle 
between 
James I and 
Parliament 



Freedom of 
speech in 
Parliament 



phemy in a creature to dispute what God can do, so it is pre- 
sumption and high contempt in a subject to question what 
a king can do." This became the tone of the court 
party. When Parliament assembled, it took the first chance 
to answer these new claims. The king, as usual, opened 
Parliament with a "speech from the throne." As usual, the 
Speaker of the Commons replied ; but, in place of the usual 
thanks to his majesty, he reminded James bluntly that in Eng- 
land the royal power was limited. "New laws," said the 
Speaker, "cannot be instituted, nor imperfect laws reformed 
. . , by any other power than this high court of Parliament. " 
The Commons backed up this speech })y a long paper, assert- 
ing that the privileges of Englishmen were their inheritance 
" no less than their lands and goods." 

James seldom called Parliaments after this, and only when 
he had to have money. Fortunately, the regular royal rev- 
enues had never been much increased, while the rise in prices 
and the wider duties of government called for more money 
than in former times. Both Elizabeth and James were poor. 
Elizabeth, however, had been economical and thrifty. James 
was careless and wasteful, and could not get along with- 
out new taxes. 

Thus Parliament was able to hold its own. It insisted 
stubbornly on its control of taxation, on freedom of speech, 
and on its right to impeach the king's ministers. In the 
Parliament of 1621, the Commons expressed dissatisfaction 
with a marriage that James had planned for his son Charles 
with a Spanish princess. James roughly forbade them to 
discuss such "high matters of state." "Let us resort to our 
prayers," said one of the members, "and then consider this 
great business." The outcome of the consideration was a 
resolution, "(1) that the liberties, privileges, and jurisdic- 
tions of Parliament are the ancient and undoubted birthright 
of the subjects of England ; and (2) that the arduous and 
urgent affairs concerning the king, the state, the church, the 
defense of the realm, the making and maintenance of laws, 
and the redress of grievances, which happen daily within 



PLATE LXII 




Charles 



I attended by the Marquis of Hamilton ; the famous painting by 
Van Dyck, who spent much time at Charles' court. 



TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION 371 

this realm, are proper subjects for debate in Parliament; 
and (3) that in the handling and proceeding of those busi- 
nesses, every member of the Commons . . . has freedom of 
speech ... to bring to conclusion the same." 

James tore out this page of the records and dissolved Par- 
liament. But Prince Charles was personally insulted by the 
Spanish court, where he had gone to visit the princess ; and in 
the last year of James' life the prince succeeded in forcing 
him into war with Spain — to the boundless joy of the nation. 

In March, 1625, in the midst of shame and disgrace because The early 
of mismanagement of the war, James died. In May, Charles orcharles I 
/ met his first Parliament. He quarreled with it at once, 
dissolved it, and turned to an eager prosecution of the war, 
trusting to win the nation to his side b}- glorious victory. Ig- 
nominious failure, instead, forced him to meet his second 
Parliament in 1626. 

It is now that Sir John Eliot stands forth as leader of the Sir John 
patriots. Eliot stood for the control of the king's ministers °^. 
by Parliament. Everything else, he saw, was likely to prove " responsi- 
worthless, if the executive could not be held responsible. *u L ° 
The king\? person could not be so held, except by revolution, ministers 
but his ministers might be impeached; and, under fear of this, 
they might be held in control. So Eliot persuaded the Com- 
mons to impeach the Duke of Buckingham, the king's favorite 
and the instrument of much past tyrann3^ Charles stopped the 
proceedings by casting Eliot into prison — in plain defiance of 
parliamentary privileges — and dissolving Parliament. 

The king fell back upon " benevolences " ('* good-will " gifts) to The king 

raise a revenue. This was a device that originated during nevoiences" 

the Wars of the Roses. Henry VIII, absolute as he was, 

had renounced the practice. Now Charles revived and 

extended it, ordering his sheriffs in the county courts to ask 

benevolences from all taxpayers. But county after county 

refused to give a penny, often with cheers for Parliament. 

Then the king tried a " forced loan." This was a tax thinlv J,^,^ , 

. forced 

disguised by the false promise to repay it. The king's loan ' 



372 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



England 
resists 



Parliament 
of 1628 



party used both force and persuasion. Pulpits, manned now 
by the anti-Puritan party, rang with the cry that to resist 
the king was eternal damnation. As a patriot of the time put 
it, the "High-church" clergy "improved the highwayman's 
formula into 'Your money or your life eternal.'" And Charles 
made use of more immediate penalties. Poor freeholders 
who refused to pay were "pressed" into the navy, or a tur- 
bulent soldiery was quartered in their defenseless homes ; 
and two hundred English gentlemen were confined in dis- 
graceful prisons, to subdue their obstinacy. One ^oung squire, 
John Hampden, who had based his refusal to pay upon a 
clause in Magna Carta, was rewarded with so close an im- 
prisonment that, his kinsman tells us, " he never did look 
the same man after." 

The forced loan raised little revenue: and with an armament 
poorly fitted out, Buckingham sailed against France (with 
which his blundering policy had brought England into war). 
For the third time in four years an English army was 
wasted to no purpose ; and sunk in debt and shame, Charles 
met his third Parliament in 1628. Before the elections, the 
imprisoned country gentlemen were released, and some sev- 
enty of them (all who appeared as candidates) sat in the new 
Parliament, in spite of the royal efforts to prevent their election. 

Charles asked for money. Instead of giving it, the Com- 
" Petition of mons debated the recent infringements of English liberties 
^ and some way to provide security in future. The king offered 

to give his word that such things should not occur again, but 
was reminded that he had already given his oath at his coro- 
nation. Finally Parliament passed "the Petition of Right," 
a document that ranks with Magna Carta in the history 
of English liberty. This great law first recited the ancient 
statutes, from Magna Carta down, against arbitrary im- 
prisonment, arbitrary taxation, quartering of soldiery upon 
the people in time of peace, and against forced loans and be- 
nevolences. Then it named the frequent violations of right 
in these respects in recent years. And finj,lly it declared all 
such infringements illegal. 



And the 



SIR JOHN ELIOT 373 

After evasive delays, Charles felt compelled to give his EUot's 
consent (and accordingly the "petition" became a great resolutions 
statute) ; but at once, in a recess of Parliament, he broke the 
provisions regarding taxes. Parliament reassembled in bit- 
ter humor. Heedless of the king's plea for money, it turned 
to punish the officers who had acted as his agents in recent 
infringements of the law. The Speaker stopped this business 
by announcing that he had the king's command to adjourn 
the House.^ Men knew that it would not be permitted to 
meet again, and there followed a striking scene. The Speaker 
was thrust back into his chair and held there; ^ the doors 
were locked against the king's messenger; and Eliot in a 
ringing speech moved a series of resolutions which were to 
form the platform of the liberal party in the dark years to 
come. Royalist members cried, Traitor ! Traitor ! Swords 
were drawn. Outside, an usher pounded at the door with a 
message of dissolution from the king. But the bulk of the 
members sternly voted the resolutions, declaring traitors to 
England (1) any one who should bring in innovations in 
religion without the consent of Parliament, (2) any minister 
who should advise the illegal levy of taxes, (3) any officer 
who should aid in their collection, and (4) every citizen who 
should voluntarily pay them. 

And in the moment's hush, when the great deed was done, Eliot's 
Eliot's voice was heard once more, and for the last time, in ^^^^^^ 
that hall : " For myself, I further protest, as I am a gentleman, 
if my fortune be ever again to meet in this honorable as- 
sembly, where I now leave off, I will begin again." Then 
the doors swung open, and the angry crowd surged out. 
Eliot passed to the Tower, to die there a prisoner four years 
later. But Eliot's friends remembered his words ; and, when 
another Parliament did meet, where he had left off', they 
began again. 

1 The king could adjourn the ParHament from time to time, or he could 
dissolve it altogether, so that no Parliament could meet until he had called 
for new elections. 

2 If the Speaker left the chair, business was at an end. 



374 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



" No Parlia- 
ment " 
years 



John 

Hampden 
and the 
" ship- 
money " tax 



Laud and 
Wentworth 



First, however, England passed through a gloomy period. 
No Parliament met for eleven years (1629-1640), and the king's 
edicts werQ the only law. Charles sought, too, ingeniously 
to find new ways to get money, and his lawyers invented the 
device of "ship-money." In time of invasion, seaboard counties 
had now and then been called upon by earlier kings to furnish 
ships for the national navy. Charles stretched this custom 
into a precedent for collecting a ''ship-money tax" from all 
England in time of peace. 

John Hampden (p. 372) refused to pay the twenty shillings 
assessed upon his lands, and the famous ship-money case 
went to the courts (1637). The slavish judges decided for the 
king — as had been expected. The king's friends were jubi- 
lant, seeing in the new tax " an everlasting supply on all occa- 
sions"; but Hampden had won the moral victory he sought. 
The twelve-day argument of the lawyers attracted wide at- 
tention, and the court in its decision was compelled to state 
the theory of despotism in its naked hideousness. It declared 
that there was no power to check the k'nufs authority over his 
subjects, — their persons or their money, — "For," said the 
Chief Justice, " no act of Parliament makes any difference.'^ 
If England submitted now, she would deserve slavery. 

The chief servants of the crown during this period were 
Archbishop I^aud and Thomas Wentworth. Wentworth had 
been one of the leaders in securing the Petition of Right, but 
soon afterward he passed over to the side of the king and be- 
came Earl of Strafford. His old associates looked upon him as a 
traitor to the cause of liberty. 

Laud was an extreme High-churchman and a conscientious 
bigot. He reformed the discipline of the church and ennobled 
the ritual ; but he persecuted the Puritan clergy cruelly, with 
imprisonment and even by the cutting off of ears. (As a result 
of this and of the political discouragement, that sect founded 
the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Practically all the immi- 
gration this colony received, before the American Revolu- 
tion, came in the ten years 1630-1640, while Charles ruled 
without Parliament.) 



TPIE LONG PARLIAMENT 375 

In 1638 Laud tried to force Episcopacy on Presbyterian The 

Scotland. (Scotland had been joined to England when lier ^^o^'^h 
x" T 1 • (> T-« Covenanters 

King James had become kmg of England, but each country 

had its own Parliament, laws, and churcli. The union was 
"personal," and consisted in the fact that the two countries 
had the same king.) But w^hen the clergyman of the great 
church at Edinburgh appeared first in surplice, prayer-book 
in hand, Jenny Geddes, a servant girl, hurled her stool at 
his head, crying, — " Out, priest ! Dost say mass at my 
lug [ear]!" The service broke up in wild disorder, and there 
followed a strange scene in the churchyard where stern, 
grizzled men drew blood from their arms, wherewith to sign 
their names to a "Solemn Oath and Covenant" to defend 
their own form of religion with their lives. This Covenant 
spread swiftly over all Lowland Scotland, and the Covenant- 
ers rose in arms and crossed the border. 

Charles' system of absolutism fell like a house of cards. The Long 
He could get no help from England without a Parliament ; Parhament 
and (November, 1640) he called the Long Parliament. The 
great leaders of that famous assembly were the Commoners 
Pym, Hampden, Sir Harry Vane,^ and, somewhat later, Cromwell. 
Pym took the place of Eliot, and promptly indicated that the 
Commons were the real rulers of England. When the Lords John Pym s 
tried to delay reform, he brought them to time by his veiled ^^^^^^^ ^P 
threat: he "should be sorry if the House of Commons had to 
save England alone. '^ 

The Scots remained encamped in England ; so the king And Eliot's 
had to assent to Parliament's bills. Parliament first made program 
itself safe by a law thai it could he dissolved only by its own vote. 
Then it began where Eliot had left off, and sternly put into 
action the principles of his last resolutions. Laud, who had 
"brought in innovations in religion," and Wentworth, who had 
advised and helped carry out the king's policy, were condemned 
to death as traitors. The lawyers who had advised ship- 
money, and the judges who had declared it legal, were cast 
into prison or driven into banishment. And forty committees 
1 Vane had lived in Massachusetts and had been governor there. 



376 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



Parliament 
hesitates 



Pym's 
" Remon- 
strance " 



Charles' at- 
tempt to 
seize " the 
five 
members " 



were appointed, one for each count}-, to secure the punishment 
of the lesser officers concerned in the illegal acts of the govern- 
ment. These measures filled the first year,^ and so far the 
Commons had been united. 

But now a split began. Moderate men thought enough had 
been done. To do more, they feared, would mean revolution 
and anarchy. So they drew nearer to the king. On the other 
hand, more far-sighted leaders, like Pym and Hampden, saw the 
necessity of securing safeguards for the future, since the king's 
promises were worthless. 

Pym brought matters to a head by introducing a Grand 
Remonstrance, — a series of resolutions which appealed to 
the country for support in further measures against the 
king, proposing, in particular, that the king's choice of min- 
isters (his chancellor, and so on) should be subject to the 
approval of Parliament. After an all-night debate, marked 
by bitter speech and even by the drawing of swords, the 
Commons adopted the Remonstrance by the narrow majority 
of eleven votes, amid a scene of wild confusion (November 22, 
1641). Said Cromwell, as the House broke up, "If it had 
failed, I should have sold all I possess to-morrow, and never 
seen England more." 

Charles tried to reverse this sviall majority by destroj^ing 
Pym, Hampden, and three other leaders, on a charge of treason- 
able correspondence with the invading Scots. No doubt 
they had been technically guilty of treason. But such "trea- 
son" against Charles was the noblest loyalty to England. 
The Commons paid no attention to the king's charges ; and 
so Charles entered the House in person, followed to the door 
by a body of armed cavaliers, to seize ''the five members.'' News 
of his coming had preceded him ; and, at the order of the 
House, the five had withdrawn. But the despotic attempt, 
and weak failure, consolidated the opposition. London rose 
in arms, and sent trainbands to guard Parliament. And 
Parliament now demanded that the king give it control of the 



1 The trial of Laud came later, but he was already a prisoner. 



PLATE LXV 




Oliver Cromwell in armor. — A painting from life by Robert Walker. 
Cf. plate facing p. 375. 



THE PURITAN REBELLION 377 

militia and of the education of the royal princes. Charles with- 
drew to the conservative North, and unfurled the standard 
of civil w^ar (1642). 

For Further Reading. — Green's English People (or his Short 
History) is thrillingly interesting for this and the following periods. 

II. THE GREAT REBELLION AND THE "REVOLUTION" 

Many men who had gone with Parliament in its reforms, The 
now chose the king's side rather than open rebellion. The ^5^2-164^5 
majority of the gentry sided with the king, while in general 
the merchant and manufacturing classes, the shopkeepers 
and the yeomanry fought for Parliament. At the same time, 
the struggle was a true "civil war," dividing families and old 
friends. The king's party took the name "Cavaliers" from 
the court nobles; while the parliamentarians were called " Round 
Heads," in derision, from the cropped hair of the London 
'prentice lads. (The portrait of Cromwell shows that Puritan 
gentlemen did not crop their hair. Short hair was a "class" 

mark.) 

At first Charles was successful. Shopboys could not stand Cromwell's 

-r^ ^1- r-i II Ironsides 

before the chivalry of the "Cavaliers." But Oliver Cromwell, 

a colonel in the parliamentary army, had raised a troop known 
as Ironsides. He saw that the only force Parliament could 
oppose to the habitual bravery of the English gentleman 
w\as the religious enthusiasm of the extreme Puritans. Ac- 
cordingly, he drew his recruits from the Independents of the 
east of England, -- mostly yeomen farmers. They were 
men of godly lives, who fell on their knees for prayer before 
battle, and then charged with the old Hebrew^ battle psalms 
upon their lips. By this troop the great battle of Marston 
Moor was w^on. Then Cromwell was put in chief command. 
He reorganized the whole army upon this "New Model"; 
and the victory of Naseby (1645) virtually closed the war. 

When the war began, many Episcopalians in Parliament Quarrel be- 
withdrew to join the king. This left the Presbyterians almost ^^^^^\f "' 
in control. Before long this party was strengthened still and Presby 
further by the need of buying the aid of Presbyterian Scotland. Kenans 



378 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



The Com- 
monwealth, 
1 648-1 654 



Battle of 
Worcester 



Then Parliament made the English church Presbyterian. Soon, 
it began to compel all men to accept this form of worship. 
On this point, the Presbyterian Parliament and the Inde- 
pendent "New Model" quarreled. Charles, now a prisoner, 
tried to play off one against the other. "Be quite easy," 
he wrote his wife, " as to the concessions I may grant. When 
the time comes, I shall know very well how to treat these rogues ; 
and, instead of a silken garter [the badge of an honorary order of 
knighthood] I will fit them with a hempen halter." 

But now the real government of England was in the army. 
A council of officers, with Cromwell for their head, prepared 
plans; and the whole army "sought the Lord" regarding them 
in monster prayer-meetings, and quickly stamped out the 
royalist and Presbyterian risings. Then, under order from 
the council of officers. Colonel Pride "purged" the House of 
Commons by expelling 143 Presbyterians. After "Pride's 
Purge" (December, 1648), Parliament rarely had an attend- 
ance of more than sixty — out of an original membership 
of some five hundred. The "Rump" were all Independents, 
and their leader was ^'ane. (Pym and Hampden had died 
some time before.) 

This remna7it of Parliament, backed by the army, abolished 
monarchy and the House of Lords, and brought " Charles 
Stuart, that man of blood,'' to trial for treason to England. 
Charles was executed, January 20, 1649, dying with better 
grace than he had lived. Then the "Rump" Parliament 
abolished Presbyterianism as a state church, and declared 
England a republic, under the name of the Commonwealth. 
" TAe people," said a famous resolution, "are, under God, the 
original of all just power; and the Commons of England in 
Parliament assembled, being chosen by the people, have the 
supreme power in this nation." 

The Scots were not ready for such radical measures, and 
they were offended by the overthrow of Presbyterianism. 
So they crowned the son of the dead king as Charles II, and 
invaded England. Cromwell crushed them at Worcester, and the 
young "King of Scots" escaped to the continent. 



PLATE LXVI 




Trial of Charles I. — An engraving in Nelson's "True Copy of the Jour- 
nal of the High Court of Justice for the Tryal of King Charles I," pub- 
lished in 1684, and reproduced in Green's English People. 



THE COMMONWEALTH 



379 



The Rump ruled four years more, but it was only the 
shadow of the Parhament chosen thirteen years before. 
Cromwell urged a new Parliament. Finally the Rump agreed 
to call one, but planned to give places in that body to 




Great Seal of the Commonwealth, 1651, — the British Isles on one 
side, the nation (represented by the House of Commons) on the reverse. 
From Green's English People. 

all its own members ivithout reelection. Learning of this 
scheme, Cromwell hurried to the House with a file of mus- 
keteers and dissolved it in a stormy scene (1653). 

The real trouble was that, though the Independents had 
won control by the discipline of their army, they va ere after 
all only a small fraction of the nation. Cromwell tried for 
a while to get a new Parliament that would adopt a consti- 
tution, but the assemblies proved dilatory and fractious ; 
and finally the army officers drew up a constitution. This 
"Instrument of Government" made Cromwell practically 
a dictator, under the title Lord Protector (1854). 

Cromwell's rule was stained by shameful cruelties in Ireland ; 
but in other respects it was wise and firm. He made England 
once more a Great Power, peaceful at home and respected 
abroad ; and he gave freedom of worship to all Protestant sects, 
— a more liberal policy in religion than could be found any- 
where else in that age except in Holland and in Roger Wil- 
liams' little colony just founded in Rhode Island. At the 
best, however, this government was a government of force. 



380 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



The 

Restoration 
of 1660 



The 

Episcopal 

church 

restored 



The noble experiment of a republic had failed miserably in 
the hands of its friends; and, on Cromwell's death, the 
nation, with wild rejoicings, welcomed back Charles II in " the 
Restoration" of 1660. 

With the Restoration, the great age of Puritanism closed. 
The court, and the young cavaliers all over the land gave 

themselves up to shame- 
ful licentiousness. (But, 
in just this age of de- 
feat, Puritanism found 
its highest expression in 
literature. John Milton, 
years before, had given 
noble poems to the world 
— like his U Allegro — 
but for many years he 
had abandoned poetry 
to work in Cromwell's 
Council and splendidly 
to champion the Puri- 
tan cause and freedom 
of speech in prose pam- 
phlets. Now, a blind, 
disappointed old man, 
he composed Paradise 
Lost. And John Bunyan, 
a dissenting minister. 
lying in jail under the 
persecuting laws of the 
new government, wrote 
Pilgrim's Progress.) 
The established church became again Episcopalian, as it 
has since remained. In the reaction against Puritan rule, the 
new Parliament passed many cruel acts of persecution. All 
dissenters — Catholic and Protestant — were excluded from 
the right to hold municipal office ; and all religious worship 
except the Episcopalian was punished with severe penalties. 




Blake's Victory over Von Tromp at 
Plymouth in 1653. — Shortly before, Von 
Tromp, the Dutch admiral, had roundly 
defeated the British, and sailed up the 
Thames with a broom at his masthead. 
Blake's victory restored England's naval 
supremacy. This painting is by a recent 
French artist, Jules Noel. 



THE STUART RESTORATION 381 

In spite of all this, the political principles for which the Political 

earlv Puritan Parliaments of Charles I had contended were ^^^^^^y 

. " . ^,, preserved 

Victorious. Charles knew he could never get another Par- 
liament so much to his mind as the one that had been elected 
in the fervor of welcome at his restoration ; and so lie shrewdly 
kept that "Cavalier Parliament" through most of his reign 
— till 1679. But even this Parliament insisted strenuously 
on Parliament's sole right to impose taxes, regulate the church, 
and control foreign policy ; and Charles' second Parliament 
adopted the great Habeas Corpus Act, which still secures 
Englishmen against arbitrary imprisonment — such as had 
been so common under Charles' father. (The principle of 
this act was older than Magna Carta ; but the law of Charles' 
time first provided adequate machinery, much as v/e have it 
in America to-day, to enforce the principle.) 

Charles II was careless, indolent, selfish, extravagant, witty. Charles II, 
He is known as the "Merry Monarch." One of his courtiers ^ ° ^ 5 
described him in jesting rhyme as a king "who never said 
a foolish thing, and never did a wise one." There is reason to 
think, however, that beneath his merry exterior Charles was 
nursing plans for tyranny far more dangerous than his father's ; 
but he died suddenly (1865) before he was ready to act. 

Real political parties first appeared toward the close of this Beginning 
reign. Charles had no legitimate son ; and his brother and of political 
heir, James, was a Catholic of narrow, despotic temper. The 
more radical members of Parliament introduced a bill to ex- 
clude him from the throne ; and their supporters throughout 
England sent up monster petitions to have the bill made law. 
The Catholics and the more conservative part of Parliament, 
especially those who believed that Parliament had no right 
to change the succession, sent up counter-petitions expressing 
horror at the proposal. These "Abhorrers" called the other 
petitioners Whigs (Whey-eaters), a name sometimes given to 
the extreme Scotch Calvinists with their sour faces. The 
Whigs reviled their opponents as Tories (bog-trotters), a name 
for the ragged Irish rebels who had supported the Catholic 
and royal policy in the Civil War. The bill failed ; but the 



382 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



Whigs and 
Tories 



James II, 
1685-1688 



The 

" Glorious 

Revolution " 



The BiU of 
Rights 



WilUam III, 
1 688-1 702 



rough division into parties remained. In general, the Whigs 
believed in the supremacy of Parliament, and sought on every 
occasion to Hmit the royal authority ; while the Tories sustained 
the royal authority and wished to prevent any further exten- 
sion of the powers of the people. 

James II lacked his brother's tact. He arbitrarily "sus- 
pended" the laws against Catholics, tried to intimidate the 
law courts, and rapidly increased the standing army. It 
was believed that he meant to make the established church 
Catholic ; and this belief prepared England for revolution. 
The Whig leaders called for aid to William of Orange, the Stadt- 
holder of Holland, who had married James' daughter Mary. 
William landed with a handful of troops. James found himself 
utterly deserted, even by his army, and fled to France. 

The story of this Revolution of 1688 is not a noble one. 
Selfishness and deceit mark every step. William of Orange 
is the only fine character on either side. As Macaulay says, 
it was "an age of great measures and little men'' ; and the term 
"glorious," which English historians have applied to the Revo- 
lution, must be taken to belong to results only. 

Those results were of mighty import. A Convention-Parlia- 
ment declared the throne vacant, drew up the great Decla- 
ration of Rights, the "third great document in the Bible 
of English Liberties" (stating once more the fundamental 
liberties of Englishmen), and elected William and Mary 
joint sovereigns on condition of their assenting to the Decla- 
ration. The supremacy of Parliament over the king was 
once more firmly established. The new sovereigns, like the 
old Lancastrians (and like all English sovereigns since) had 
only a parliamentary title to the throne. (The next regular 
Parliament enacted the Declaration of Rights into a "Bill 
of Rights.") 

William III was a great-grandson of William the Silent. 
He ranks among England's greatest kings, but he was a foreigner, 
and unpopular. (He spoke only his native Dutch, not Eng- 
lish.) His reign was spent mainly in war against the over- 
shadowing might of Louis XIV of France. While Stadtholder 



THE GREAT REBELLION OF 1688 383 

of Holland, William had alread}^ become the most formidable 
opponent of Louis XIV's schemes (p. 392) ; and now the French 
king undertook to restore James II to the English throne. 

This began the "Second Hundred Years' War" between 
France and England. With slight intervals, the struggle lasted 
from 1689 to 1815. The story will be told in future chapters. 
Now it is enough to note that the long conflict turned the 
government's attention away from reform and progress at home. 
Just in the first years, how^ever, some great steps forward were 
taken — \vhich were properly part of the Revolution. 

Religious reform was embodied in the Act of Toleration of 
1689, in W'hich, at William's insistence. Parliament granted free- 
dom of icorship to Protestant dissenters (though even these most 
favored dissenters from the English church did not yet secure 
the right to hold office or to enter the universities.) The chief 
gains in political liberty come under four heads. 

1. Judges were made independent of the king (removable 
only by Parliament). 

2. A triennial bill ordered that a new Parliament should be 
elected at least once in three years. (In 1716, the term was 
made seven years.) 

3. Parliament adopted the simple device of granting money 
for government expenses only for a year at a time (instead of 
for the lifetime of the sovereign), and only after all other busi- 
ness had been attended to. Thenceforward, Parliaments have 
been assembled each year, and they have practically fixed their 
own adjournments. 

4. The greatest problem of parliamentary government (as 
Sir John Eliot had seen) was to control the "king's ministers'* 
and make them really the ministers of Parliament. Parliament 
could remove and punish the king's advisers ; but such action 
could be secured only by a serious struggle, and against noto- 
rious offenders. Some w^ay w^as w^anted to secure ministers ac- 
ceptable to Parliament easily and at all times. 

This desired "cabinet government" was secured indirectly Beginning of 
through the next century and a half; but the first important g^^e^^ent 
steps were taken in the reign of William. At first William tried 



384 



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND 



Growth of 
cabinet 
government 
under the 
Georges 



Sir Robert 
Walpole 



to unite the kingdom, and balance Whigs and Tories, by keep- 
ing the leaders of both parties among his ministers. But he 
was much annoyed by the jealousy and suspicion which Parlia- 
ment felt toward his measures, and by the danger of a deadlock 
between king and Parliament at critical times. Then a shrewd 
political schemer suggested to the king that he should choose 
all his advisers and assistants from the Whigs, who had a ma- 
jority in the House of Commons. Such ministers would have 
the confidence of the Commons ; and that body would support 
their proposals, instead of blocking all measures. William ac- 
cepted this suggestion; and a little later, when the Tories for 
a time secured a majority, he carried out the principle by re- 
placing his "cabinet" with leading Tories. This was the hegin- 
ning of ministerial government, or of "responsible ministries." 

William, however, was a powerful ruler. He was not a tyrant 
in any way ; but he believed in a king's authority, and he suc- 
ceeded for the most part in keeping the ministers the "hinges min- 
isters'' — to carry out his policy. Queen Anne, Mary's sister, 
(1702-1714) tried to maintain a similar control over her min- 
istry. But, like William and Mary, she too died without leaving 
children ; and the crown passed by a new Act of Settlement to 
a great-grandson of James I, the German George I, who was al- 
ready Elector of Hanover. (This law, like the earlier one pro- 
viding for the succession of Anne, excluded nearer heirs because 
they were Catholics.) 

Neither George I nor his son George H spoke English ; and 
so far as they cared for matters of government at all, they were 
interested in their German, principality rather than in England. 
During the half-century (1714-1760) of these stupid German 
Georges, the government of England was left to the group of 
ministers. 

Unhappily, Parliament itself did not yet really represent the 
nation. Walpole, Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742, ruled 
largely by unblushing corruption. Said he cynically, "Every 
man has his price." During his rule, it loas not a parliamentary 
majority that made the ministry, but the ministry that made the 
parliamentary majority. (The same method, used only a little 



PLATE LXVII 




\\iiiXK a LuuL._,-.... .. ii^Ji si., — a paiutiu^; 1j.\" William llu^artli iii 17o3. Ho- 
garth was a "pictorial satirist," who portrayed strikingly the follies of 
his age. Several of his paintings picture tavern life. "White's" was 
the most celebrated resort in London. (Some fifty j^ears later it grew 
into the first private "Club.") 

There was a separate gambling room at White's in Hogarth's time, but here 
the dice are represented in use also in the public room. The picture is 
the sixth in a famous series, known as The Rake's Progress. The central 
figure in front is the leading character of the series, — now cursing fren- 
ziedly at the completion of his financial ruin. At the small table to the 
left, a well-known nobleman is writing an I. O. U., to secure more gold 
from a waiting usurer. On the further side, another money lender is 
counting gold into the hand of an eager borrower. All these gamblers 
are so absorbed in their gaming that they have failed to notice flames that 
have broken out — so that a street "watch," with staff and lantern, has 
just rushed in to arouse them to the danger. One other feature of the 
time is symbolized by the portrait of a noted highwayman (in riding boots 
and with pistol and mask protruding from his pocket) seated by the fire- 
place, so lost in thought that the boy with the glass cannot get his atten- 
tion. Such ' ' gentlemen of the road " were not unknown in London taverns. 



ENGLAND BECOMES GREAT BRITAIN 



385 




grows into 

Great 

Britain 



less shamelessly, was the means by wliicli the ministers of George 
III in the next generation managed Parliament and brought it 
to (h'ive the American colonies into war.) 

Meantime England had become Great Britain. James I (1G03) England 
had joined Scotland and 
England under one 
crown. In 1707 this 
"personal union" was 
made a true consolida- 
tion by the " Act of Un- 
ion," adopted by the 
Parliaments of both 
countries. Scotland 
gave up her separate 
legislature, and became 
part of the "United 
Kingdom, " with the 
right to send members 
to the English Parlia- 
ment and to keep her 
own established Presby- 
terian church. Halfway 
between these two dates, 
Cromwell completed the 
conquest of Ireland. 
And that same seven- 
teenth century had seen 
a vaster expansion of 
England and of Europe, 
to which we now turn. 



House of Commons. — From part of a 
painting by Hogarth in 1730. (For an 
account of the artist, see Plate opposite.) 
The figures in the foreground are Sir 
Robert Walpole and the Speaker (Ons- 
low). Several other faces also are por- 
traits. Note the wigs, the cocked hats 
(worn by all members except when ad- 
dressing the House), and the quill pen 
in the hand of the clerk. The represen- 
tation of the hall is perhaps the best we 
have of the old hall in which the Com- 
mons sat before the erection of the pres- 
ent Parliament buildings. 



For Further Reading. — It is desirable for reading students to 
continue Green at least through the Revolution of 1688. Blackmore's 
Lorna Doone is a splendid story which touches some passages in the 
history of the closing seventeenth century. 

Exercise. — The dates in English seventeenth-century history are 
important for an understanding of early American history : especially, 
1603 (accession of James I) ; 1629-1640 (No-Parhament period) ; 1648- 
1660 (Commonwealth); 1660 (Restoration); 1688 (Revolution). 



CHAPTER XL 



EXPANSION OF EUROPE INTO NEW WORLDS 



The center 
of historical 
interest 
shifts 
westward 



Spain in 
America 



Defeat of 
the Armada, 
1588 



France in 
America 



Columbus and Da Gama (pp. 326-327) had doubled the size 
of the known earth, added a new stir to European thought, and 
revolutionized the distril^ution of wealth in Europe. The cen- 
ter of historical interest shifted westward once more. The Med- 
iterranean, for two thousand years the one great highway be- 
tween Europe and the Orient, gave way to the Atlantic and the 
" passage round the Cape." The cities of Italy lost their leader- 
ship both in commerce and in art, while vast gain fell to the sea- 
board countries on the Atlantic. For a hundred years, it is true, 
direct gains were confined to tlie two countries which had begun 
the explorations. Portugal built up a rich empire in the Indian 
Ocean and in the Pacific, and an accident gave her Brazil. 
Otherwise, the sixteenth century in America belongs to Spain. 

The story of Spain's conquests is a tale of heroic endurance, 
marred by ferocious cruelty. Not till twenty years after the 
discovery did the Spaniards advance to the mainland of Amer- 
ica for settlement ; but, once begun, her handful of adventurers 
swooped north and south. By 1550, she held all South America 
(save Portugal's Brazil), all Central America, Mexico, the Cal- 
ifornias far up the Pacific coast, and the Floridas. 

Nor was Spain content with this huge empire. She was plan- 
ning grandly to occupy the Mississippi valley and the Ap- 
palachian slope in America, and to seize Holland and England in 
Europe; but in 1588 she received her fatal check, at the hands 
of the English sea dogs, in the ruin of her Invincible Armada. 

For a time France seemed most likely to succeed Spain as mis- 
tress in North America. In 1608 Champlain founded the first 
permanent French colony at Quebec. Soon canoe-fleets of tra- 
ders and missionaries were coasting the shores of the Great Lakes 

386 



FRANCE IN AMERICA 



387 



and establishing stations at various points still known by French 
names. Finally, in 1GS2, after years of gallant effort, La Salle 
followed the Mississippi to the Gulf, setting up a French claim 
to the entire valley. From that time New France consisted of 




La Salle 'I'akixg Possession of the ^Ils,'<issii'pi \alle'. . li; the 

NAME Louisiana) for France. — This picture, exhibited by Marchand 
at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, is faithful to La Salle's account. The 
act was performed at the mouth of the river, with legal attestation ; and 
to it are traced land titles over much of the valley to-day. 

a colony or the St. Lawrence, in the far north, and the semi- 
tropical colony of New Orleans, joined to each other by a thin 
chain of trading posts and military stations along the connect- 
ing waterways. 

It is easy to point out certain French advantages in the race French 
with England for North America. At home French statesmen advantages 
worked steadily to build a French empire in the New World, 
while the English government for the most part ignored English 
colonies. The thought of such empire for their country, too, 
inspired French explorers in the wilderness — splendid patriots 
like Champlain, Ribault, and La Salle. France also sent forth 



388 



EXPANSION OF EUROPE 



Weak points 
in French 
colonization 



Lack of 
homes 



Paternalism 
in industry 



Lack of 
political life 



the most zealous and heroic of missionaries to convert the sav- 
ages. Moreover, the French could deal with the natives better 
than the stiffer, less sympathetic English could ; and the French 
leaders were men of far-reaching views. 

But though the French colonies were strong in the leaders, they 
were weak in some vital matters that depended on the mass of 
the colonists. They lacked homes, individual enterprise, and 
political life. 

1 . Except for a few leaders and missionaries, the settlers were 
either unprogressive peasants or reckless adventurers. For the 
most part they did not bring families, and, if they married, they 
took Indian wives. Agriculture was the only basis for a perma- 
nent colony ; but these colonists turned instead to trapping 
and the fur trade, and adopted Indian habits. 

2. Paternalism smothered private enterprise. New France 
was taught to depend, not on herself, but on the aid and di- 
rection of a government three thousand miles away. Trade 
was shackled by silly restrictions, and hampered by silly eh- 
couragements. The rulers did everything. "Send us money 
to build storehouses" ran the begging letters of the colonial 
governors to the French king. "Send us a teacher to make 
sailors. We want a surgeon." And so, at various times, re- 
quests for brickmakers, iron-workers, pilots. New France got 
the help she asked ; but she did not learn to walk alone. 

3. Political life, too, was lacking. France herself had become 
a centralized despotism ; and, in New France, as a French writer 
(Tocqueville) says, "this deformity was seen as though mag- 
nified by a microscope." No public meetings could be held 
without special license from the governor ; and, if licensed, they 
could do nothing worth while. The governor's ordinances (not 
the people) regulated pew rent, the order in which dignitaries 
should sit in church, the number of cattle a man might keep, 
the pay of chimney sweeps, the charges in inns, and so on. " It 
is of greatest importance," wrote one official, "that the people 
should not be at liberty to speak their minds." 

Worse than that — the people had no minds to speak. In 
1672, Frontenac, the greatest governor of New France, tried to 



PLATE LXVITI 



n- 



HF. PRlNCIPALi 



A 



\- 



NAVlGATIONS,VOI 

C }• ^ A N D i) i s C: O V E R 1 Li N (^ r I i i 1 
Lrii^Iilli rtation,maclc hy Seaorouer Canci^ 

r.) th piosi remote, vul j.vr!r<l J:Ii.int Quarters of 
the earth nr ;inv time within the coinpaflo 
' iiiJrAmli' t'.vee 

.hn^ir.- 



• conrciniiig the pcifonalltraucls of chcF.nglilh vnto///^^j,5)rM,.^- 
. . ihcnucr r.uvhr.Ui<, C.d-y'v>!, Kalfir.i, the Vcr-i.in Gulfc, Or»i:tz, Chaul, 
•,, . .• //.■'^'j.anii manv Iilantl^ adioyning to the Soutli parts ofo///!i ■ togc- 
i.'uT V, itli t!-iC hkc vnco E%\fl, tlic chictcll ports and places oLl/rica with- 
in a!u-i u idiout the Streight oicd>r.i.'Lv, and about the taraoiis Promoa- 
totic oj S:ic».i L/Pojn^i. 

-.crccoHd,coTiorehcnding the uerthvdircouericsoftheEngHlTi towards 
the North and Norcheait bv Sca,a<: ot Lip.'.viJ, s^-nL/i/iix, Con!:.i, t!ic Baie 
• \'.'r/;;v./,>,ihc lllcs olCi:-/;':)/' /^c, i'm^.i!>, and Aj7M Zcm't'U toward the 
, - ::.i r:iicr ti^'.with die mightic Empire ol Rti(jh, the Cifp'-w Sca,cV6r^w, 

■ .:r.:iy\fe<xi.iScr(u,Boghir\\\lixdrii^i:ciMXtx%Vmi^Aovn%o\.Tirta.rtx. 

. ,;. i and laft.includingthc Engliili valiant attempts in fcarching al- 
moila!! the comers of the vartc and iicv n-orld of ^^merici, from 73.dc- 
j.TvCs of Northerly latitude Sr.Hithward,:o /I/crj Incoii^mt.'i.Navfcundlnnd, 
tile inainc of r/r^/wM, tlic point ot f /.^W'/t ,thc Baie oxc^fcsicc, all the In- 
l.iMdof::\j?;«H.-/jl).:«;.«, the coaft of r.rr J /iVw.r, Br.t/i!i, the riucrof/'Zj/f,to 
th-; Strcightofolf t^.-//.fw.- and through K,and froin it in the South Sea to 
c /-.•■;, lUm.Kxhjco, the Gulfc of Ci/z/jr/.M, A'.'*-* Aihion \pon the backfldc 
oi C.viidi, further then cuer any Chriftian hitherto hath pierced. 

IVhcreunto u adicd the IxH ntosi rcmv:mcd Er^.i^o Kiuigition, 
rounj iboui ihc ivhtjlc Olobc of the hanli. 

ilClirnchiiniiaOx.oiJ. 




f 



mprintcd at London by George B i .t h o 

and Ralph N e w b h r 1 e, Deputies to 
C H.K J s T o p H B R B A R K SR, Pmitcr lO ih". 



Facsimile of Title Page Of Hakluyt's Voyages. — Richard Hakluyt 
was an English clergyman deeply interested in forwarding the colonization 
of America. At Raleigh's suggestion he had written a pamphlet, Western 
Planting, in 1783, in which he used the phrase quoted in our text about 
putting "a byt" in an enemy's mouth. 



MOTIVES FOR ENGLISH COLONIZATION 389 

introduce a colonial assembly — with power at least of discussion. 
The home government sternly disapproved this mild innova- 
tion, reminding Frontenac that at home the kings had done 
away with the old States General (p. 291), and directing him 
to remember that it was "proper that each should speak for 
himself, and no one for the whole." The plan fell to pieces; 
the j)eoj^le cared so little for it that they made no effort to save it. 

Very different w^as the fringe of English colonies that grew^ England's 

up on the Atlantic coast, never with a king's subsidies, often out "^ajry with 

^ . . Spain in 

of a king's persecution, and asking no favor but to be let alone. America 

During the last quarter of the sixteenth century, when Eliza- 
beth's reign was half gone, England entered openly on a daring 
rivalry with the overshadowing might of Spain. Out of that 
rivalry English America was born — by the work not of sov- 
ereigns, but of individual adventurous patriots. Reckless and 
picturesque freebooters, like Drake and Hawkins, sought profit 
and honor for themselves, and injury to the foe, by raiding the 
wide-flung realms of New Spain, while the more far-sighted Gil- 
bert and Raleigh strove to "put a byt in the anchent enemy's 
mouth" by establishing English colonies in America. 

These first attempts came to nothing because the energies Motives of 
of the nation were drained by the exhausting struggle with the ^^slish 
might of Spain in Europe. Then eJames became king, and at home 
sought Spanish friendship ; but Englishmen, beginning to 
fear lest their chance for empire was slipping through their fin- 
gers, insisted all the more that England should not now abandon 
Virginia, — "this one enterprise left unto these days." 

Moreover, England needed an outlet for "crowded" popula- Motives of 
tion,^ and the more enterprising of the hard-pressed yeomanry 
were glad to seek new homes beyond seas. This class furnished 
most of the manual labor in the early colonies. But captains and 
capitalists, too, were needed ; and a new condition in England just 
after the death of Elizabeth turned some of the best of the mid- 
dle class toward American adventure. Until James made peace 

1 Only a tenth of the present population, but more than the islands could 
support under the crude industrial system of that date. Cf. p. 365. 



colonists 



390 



ENGLAND IN AMERICA 



Puritanism 



England's 
success 



with Spain (1604), the high-spirited 3^outh, and especially the 
younger sons of gentry families, fought in the Low Countries 
for Dutch independence (p. 350) or made the "gentlemen- 
adventurers" who under commanders like Drake paralyzed the 

vast domain of New 
Spain with fear. 
Now these men 
sought occupation 
and fortune in colo- 
nizing America, still 
attacking the old 
enemy, and in his 
weakest point. 

Such were the 
forces in English life 
that established Vir- 
ginia, early in the 
reign of James I. 
Toward the close of 
that same reign, Pu- 
ritanism was added to 
the colonizing forces, 
and, before the Long 
Parliament met, there 
was a second patch 
of English colonies 
on the North Atlantic 
shore. After this, the 
leading motive for colonization was a desire to win a better home 
or more wealth, though late in the century, religious perse- 
cution in England played its part again in founding Pennsyl- 
vania. And so, from one cause or another, at the time of the 
"Revolution of 1688," the English settlements in America had 
expanded into a broad band of twelve great colonies, reaching from 
the Penobscot to the Savannah, with a total population of a quarter 
of a million. 

These colonies all enjoyed the English Common Law, with 




Time cuh down all 
Both great and fmill. 

Made Davtd Icck his 
Life. 

ftHjahr In the Sea 
God's Voice ctty. 

Xerxis the great dL3 

^S^.^i>^A And io mult you & I. 

Toutb forward !Up3 
Dcath fooncll nipv.. 

7,a:bcui he 

£\^ climb the Tree 
H'i LofJ to fcf. 



A Pack from the New England Pkimek, 
published in 1680. — This textbook held its 
place in the schools in New England un- 
til after the American Revolution. Those 
schools were one of the two or three most 
significant features of the English colonies. 




ENGLISH AMERICA 
1660-1690 



English settlement, t660 

Dutch settlement. ^S60 

Swedish settlement, tS60 

Limit of English occupation 
in '690 1 
7P° 



GROWTH TOWARD DEMOCRACY 391 

its guarantees for jury trial, freedom of speech, and other per- Transfer of 
sonal liberties (such as were known in no other colonies for two freedom to 
hundred years), and they all possessed their own self-governing America 
representative assemblies, modeled on the English Parliament. 

Moreover, not all England, but only the more democratic part Democratic 
of English life, was transplanted to America. No hereditary nobles f®J^^®^^'®s 
or monarch or bishop ever made part of colonial America. And 
that part of English society which did come was drawn toward 
still greater democracy by the presence here of unlimited free land. 
When the Puritan gentlemen, who at first made up the govern- 
ing body in Massachusetts colony, tried to fix wages for car- 
penters by law, as th« gentry did in England (p. 366), the New 
England carpenters simply ceased to do carpenter work and 
became farmers. Thus wages rose, spite of aristocratic efforts 
to hold them down. Free land helped to maintain equality in 
industry, and so in politics ; and the English colonies from the 
first began to diverge from the old home in the direction of even 
greater freedom. 

In the next chapter we shall see how the story of American 
colonization merged with the story of European wars. 



CHAPTER XIJ 



DESPOTS AND WARS 



The 

" Balance 

of Power " 



Threatened 
by France 



First series 
of wars of 
Louis XIV 



I. THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV, 1643-1715 

Toward the close of the "reH<i;ious" Thirty Years' War, we 
saw Catholic France aid Protestant Germany and Holland 
to break the power of Catholic Austria and Spain. Statesmen 
had begun to make it their chief object to keep any one country 
from becoming too strong for its neighbors' safety ; and these 
wars and alliances to destroy or to maintain the Balance of 
Power were the mark of the next hundred years — complicated 
soon by commercial greed for the control of the new worlds. 

For long after 1648, France, more than any other country, 
endangered the unstable "Balance"! In 1643 the throne of 
that country fell to Louis XIV. During the early years of this 
reign, Colbert, the great minister of the king, introduced economy 
into the finances, encouraged new manufactures, removed many 
of the absurd tolls that vexed trade, built roads and canals, 
and watched zealously over the growth of New France in America. 
But in 1667 Louis began a series of wars that filled most of the 
next forty years. During that half-century, despotic France 
threatened freedom for the world, as Spain had done a century 
before, and as HohenzoUern Germany has recently been threat- 
ening it. 

In the fu-st twelve years of war, Louis sought to seize territory 
on his northeastern frontier. The Dutch Republic was his 
chief obstacle. The Dutch intrusted their government to Wil- 
liam of Orange (afterward William III of England; p. 382). 
With grim determination William finally let in the North Sea to 
drive out the French armies. Meantime he toiled ceaselessly 
in building up against France an alliance of European powers, 
until Louis was compelled to accept peace with only slight gains 
of territory from the Spanish Netherlands. 

392 



PLATE LXIX 



The French in Heidelberg, — a painting by Fedur Dietz. By the order 
of Louis, the French armies deliberately depopulated large districts. A 
striking passage of Macaulay tells the fate of one Rhine pro\'ince : "The 
commander announced to near half a million human beings that he granted 
them three days' grace. . . . Soon the roads and fields were black with 
innumerable men, women, and children, fleeing from their homes. . . . 
Flames went up from every market place, every parish church, every 
county seat." Many of these fugitives finally came to America. 



PLATE LXX 




RITTN OF THE HUGUENOTS 



393 



During ten years of truce that followed, Louis, continued to The Edict 



seize bits of territory along the Rhine — including the " free 
city" of Strassburg. But the important event of this period 
was his treatment of the Huguenots. In 1685 he revoked the 
Edict of Nantes, and tried to compel the Huguenots to accept 
Catholicism. Dragoons were quartered in the Huguenot dis- 
tricts, and terrible persecutions fell upon those who refused to 
abandon their faith. Protestantism did finally disappear from 
France. But, though Louis tried to prevent any heretic from 
leaving France alive, tens of thousands (perhaps 300,000 in all) 
escaped to Holland, Prussia, England, and America.^ The 
effect on France corresponded in a measure to the effect of the 
expulsion of the Moriscoes (pp. 351-2) on Spain. 

A second series of wars began in 1689 (p. 383). As before, 
the French armies were invincible in the field ; but, as before, 
William checked Louis by building up a general European al- 
liance. England had now taken Holland's place as the center 
of opposition to French despotism. Louis fought mainly to 
get more Rhine territory ; hut this time he kept no gains. This 
war is known in American history as "King William's War." 
The struggle had tvidened from a mere European war into a Titanic 
conflict between France and England for tvorld-empire. 

Next, Louis eagerly seized a chance to put one of his grand- 
sons on the vacant Spanish throne, as Philip V, exclaiming ex- 
ultantly, "The Pyrenees no longer exist." But Europe united 
against France and Spain in the "War of the Spanish Succes- 
sion," known in American history as "Queen Anne's War." 
In this struggle, for the first time, success . in the field lay with 
the Allies. The English Marlborough and the Hapsburg Prince 
Eugene won terrible victories over the armies of France, at Blen- 
heim in Bavaria, and at RamiUies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet 
in Belgium, the suffering battleground of the rival kings. 



of Nantos 
revoked 



Later wars 
of Louis XIV 



The 

" Spanish 

Succession 



* In America the Huguenots went mainly to the Carolinas ; but some old 
Virginia families trace their origin to this immigration. In New York John 
Jay and Alexander Hamilton were both of .Huguenot descent. And in 
Massachusetts the Huguenot influence is suggested by the names of Paul 
Revere, Peter Faneuil, and Governor Bowdoin. 



394 



AGE OF LOUIS XIV 



Peace of 
Utrecht 



Exhaustion 
of France 



French 
leadership 
in Europe 



The age of 
despots 



The Peace of Utrecht (1713) left Philip king of Spain, but 
he had to renounce for himself and his heirs all claim upon the 
French throne. France gained no territory in Europe, and in 
America she lost Neivfoundland arid Nova Scotia to England. 
England also acquired command of the Mediterranean, by se- 
curing from Spain the fortress of Gibraltar and the island of 
Minorca. Spain lost all her European possessions outside her 
oivn peninsida, ceding her Netherland provinces, the kingdom 
of Sicily and A^aples, and the great Duchy of Milan in North 
Italy, to Austria. 

Louis XIV dazzled the men of his age, and won the title of 
the Great King {Grand Monarque) ; but his wars exhausted 
France. At the close of his reign, the industry of France was 
declining under a crushing taxation, of which irwre than half 
went merely to pay the interest on the debt he Jiad created. Intel- 
lectually, however, France was now the acknowledged leader 
of Europe. The court of Louis XIV was the model on which 
every court in Europe sought to form itself. French thought, 
French fashions, the French language, became the common 
property of all polite society. 

"/ am the state'' is a famous saying ascribed to Ix)uis XIV. 
Whether he said it or not, he might have done so with perfect 
truth. So might almost any monarch of his day, outside of 
England. Louis called the English Parliament " an intolerable 
evil." If England and Holland had not withstood his ambitious 
dreams of empire, free government would then have perished 
from the earth. 



11. THE RISE OF RUSSIA 



Russia and 
the Tartar 
Conquest 
of 1223 



Early Russian history- is a blank or a mass of legends. We 
know that before the year 900, there was a prince at Moscow 
ruling over the Russian Slavs from Novgorod to Kiev. Toward 
the close of the next century, Greek Christianity was introduced 
from Constantinople, and Greek civilization began slowly to 
make progress among the Russians. But about 1200, a great 
military leader appeared among the heathen Tartars who peopled 



PLATE LXXl 




St. Basil's Church, Moscow, — built in 1554-1557, during the reign of 
Ivan the Terrible. The structure was painted brilliantly in all the colors 
of the rainbow. It shows Oriental characteristics and some influence 
from the Byzantine architecture. 



THE RISE OF RUSSIA 395 

the vast plains to the East. Taking the title Genghis Khan 
(Lord of Lords), he organized the scattered nomad tribes into 
a terrible fighting machine, and set out to conquer the world. 
The ancient Scythian invasions were repeated upon a larger 
scale and with greater horrors. Genghis turned fertile countries 
into deserts and populous districts into tombs. In 1223 the rising 
Christian state of Russia was crushed, and the Mongol empire 
reached from Peking and the Indus to Crimea and the Dnieper. 

The death of the Great Khan (1227) recalled his son to Asia ; 
but ten years later the assault on Europe was renewed. Mos- 
cow was burned, and northern Russia became a tributary 
province. Again Western Europe was saved only by the death 
of a Mongol emperor. Soon after, the huge Tartar realm fell 
into fragments. But the whole Russian realm has felt ever since 
the baleful influence of the long Tartar dominion. 

In 1480 a tributary Russian prince threw off the Tartar yoke, Ivan the 
and one of his near successors, Ivan the Terrible, took the title ®''"°^® 
Tsar (p. 219). Under this Ivan, by 1550, when the religious 
wars were beginning in Western Europe, Russia reached from 
the inland Caspian northward and westward over much of the 
vast eastern plain of Europe, stretching even into Asiatic 
Siberia. But it had no seacoast except on the ice-locked Ai'ctic, 
and no touch with Western Europe. Tartars and Turks still 
shut it off from the Black Sea; the Swedes shut it from the 
Baltic (p. 355) ; and the Poles prevented any contact with Ger- 
many. The Tsars imitated the Tartar khans in their rule and 
court; and the Russian people were Asiatic in dress, manners, 
and thought. 

To make this Russia a European Power was the work of Peter Peter the 
the Great. Peter was a barbaric genius of tremendous energy, 1580-172'? 
clear intellect, and ruthless will. Early in his reign, the young 
Tsar decided to learn more about the Western world he had 
admired at a distance. In Holland, as a workman in the navy 
yards, he studied shipbuilding. He visited most of the coun- 
tries of the West, impressing all who met him with his insatiable 
voracity for information. He inspected cutleries, museums, 
manufactories, arsenals, departments of government, military 



396 



RISE OF PRUSSIA 



Peter 

" European- 
izes " 
Russia 



Expansion 
toward the 
open seas 



Peter 

reaches the 
Baltic 



Later 
growth to 
1800 



organizations. He collected instruments and models, and gath- 
ered naval and military stores. He engaged choice artists, 
goldbeaters, architects, workmen, officers, and engineers, to 
return with him to Russia, by promises, not well kept, of great 
pay. 

With these workmen Peter sought to introduce Western civ- 
ilization into Russia. The manners of his people he reformed 
by edict. He himself cut off the Asiatic beards of his courtiers 
and clipped the bottoms of their long robes. Women were 
ordered to put aside their veils and come out of their Oriental 
seclusion. Peter "tried to Europeanize by Asiatic methods." 
He "civilized by the cudgel." The upper classes did take on a 
European veneer. The masses remained Oriental. 

Peter was more successful in starting Russia on her march 
toward the European seas, to get "windows to look out upon 
Europe." On the south, he himself made no permanent ad- 
vance, despite a series of wars with Turkey ; but he bequeathed 
his policy to his successors, and, from his day to the opening of 
the W^orld War, Constantinople was a chief goal of Russian 
ambition. The "Baltic window" Peter himself secured, by 
victory over Charles XII of Sweden, winning the east coast of the 
Baltic as far north as the Gulf of Finland. This district had 
been colonized, three centuries before, by German nobles (map 
after 302), and German ci\ilization was strongly implanted 
there. In this new territory Peter founded St. Petersburg, 
recently renamed Petrograd. 

The next important acquisition of territory was under the 
Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter, who seized part of Fin- 
land from Sweden. Toward the close of the century, under 
Catherine II, Russia made great progress on the south along 
the Black Sea, and on the west at the expense of Poland (p. 401). 
This last change can be understood only in connection with the 
rise of Prussia. 



Frederick of jjj PRUSSIA IN EUROPE 
Hohenzol- 



ENGLAND IN NEW WORLDS 
Brandenburg was a little district in the northeast of Germany 



lern, Elector 

of Branden- . . 1 i 1 

burg which became promment m the twelfth century as a bulwark 



X 

w 

< 

Ph 




THE GREAT ELECTOR 397 

against the Slavs. About 1200, the ruler became one of the 
Electors (p. 316) of the Empire. In 1415, the first line of 
Brandenburg Electors ran out ; and Frederick of Ilohcnzollern, 
a petty count in the Alps (like the Hapsburgs a century and 
a half before), bought Brandenburg from the Emperor. 

Shortly after 1600 the Elector of Brandenburg fell heir to The Hohen- 
two considerable principalities, — the duchy of Cleves on the ^°. ^^^^ 
extreme west of Germany, and the duchy of Prussia outside the Prussia 
Empire on the extreme east. (Prussia was the name of a Slav 
and Lett district which the Teutonic Knights had conquered in 
the fourteenth century from the heathen Slavs, and which they 
held as vassals of the king of Poland.) 

Toward the close of the Thirty Years' War, Frederick Wil- The 
Ham, "the Great Elector," came to the throne of Brandenburg Eiectm- " 
— a coarse, cruel, treacherous, shrewd ruler. The Protestants and the 
were getting the upper hand in the war. Frederick William years' Wa 
joined them, and, at the Peace of Westphalia he secured eastern 
Pomerania (p. 355), bringing Brandenburg to the sea. The 
"Great Elector" now crushed out all local assemblies of nobles Paternal 
in his provinces, and all local privileges. Then he built up an ^^^po^^sm 
arm}^ among the largest and best in Europe, much more costly 
than his poor realms could well support. He was shrewd enough, 
however, to see the need of caring for the material welfare of 
his subjects, if they were to be able to support his selfish plans ; 
and so his long reign (1640-168S) marks the beginning of the boasted 
Hohenzollern policy of "good governm,ent." He built roads and 
canals, drained marshes, encouraged better agriculture, and wel- 
comed to his realms, with their manufactures, the Huguenot 
fugitives from France. 

Frederick, son and successor of the Great Elector, was be- The Idngly 
sought by Austria to join the alliance against Louis XIV (p. 393). *^*^® 
In reward for his aid, he then secured the Emperor's consent to 
his changing the title "Elector of Brandenburg" for the more 
stately one of "King in Prussia" (1701). The second king of 
Prussia, Frederick William I, was a rude "drill sergeant," 
memorable only as the stupid father of Frederick the Great. 
He did, however, expend what intellect he had, and what money 



398 



FREDERICK TI OF PRUSSIA 



Frederick II, 
I 740-1 786 



England 
and France 
rivals for 
world 
empire 



he could wring from his subjects, in enlarging the Prussian army ; 
and he had a curious passion for collecting tall soldiers from all 
over Europe. 

Frederick II ("the Great") ascended the Prussian throne in 
1740. In the same year the Hapsburg Emperor, Charles VI, 
died without a male heir, and Frederick began his long reign 
by an unjust but profitable war. The Emperor Charles had 
secured solemn pledges from the powers of Europe, including 
Prussia, that his young daughter, Maria Theresa, should suc- 
ceed to his Austrian possessions. But now, with his perfectly 
prepared army, without having even declared ivar, on a trumped- 
up claim, Frederick seized Silesia, an Austrian province. 

This treacherous act was the signal for a general onslaught 
to divide the Austrian realms. Spain, France, Savoy, Bavaria, 
each hurried to snatch some morsel of the booty. But Maria 
Theresa displayed courage and ability, and she secured aid 
from Holland and England. This "War of the Austrian Suc- 
cession" closed in 1748. Frederick had shown himself greedy 
and unscrupulous, but also the greatest general of the age. He 
kept Silesia. Prussia now reached down into the heart of Ger- 
many, and had become the great ri\ al of Austria. 

Much more important, though less striking, was the contest 
outside Europe. In America a New England expedition cap- 
tured the French fortress of Louisburg. In India the French 
leader, Dupleix, captured the English stations. The treaty of 
peace restored matters to their former position, both in America 
and Asia, but the war made England and France feel more clearly 
than ever before that they were rivals for vast continents. Whether 
Prussia or Austria were to possess Silesia, whether France or 
Austria were to hold the Netherlands, were questions wholly 
insignificant in comparison with the mightier question as to 
what race and what political ideas should hold the New Worlds. 



The "Seven In 1756 Austria began a war of revenge. Maria Theresa 
-^^^, had secured the alliance of Russia, Sweden, and even of her old 

1 756-1 763 enemy, France. Four great armies invaded Prussia from dif- 
ferent directions, and Frederick's throne seemed to totter. His 



PLATE LXXIII 




The Last Rali.y of Tippoo Sahib, — the Indian leader in the final struggle 
against England in the eighteenth century. From a drawing by a French 
artist, Emile Bayard. 



WARS OF GREED 399 

swift action and his military genius saved his country, in the 
victories of Rossbach and Leuthcn. And the next year Eng- 
land entered the struggle as his ally. England and France had 
remained practically at war in America and India through the 
brief interval between the tw^o P^uropean wars. Braddock's 
campaign in America (1754) took place during this interval ; 
and now that France had changed to Austria's side, England saw 
no choice but to support Prussia. 

In America this " Seven Years' War" is known as the " French England 

and Indian War." The struggle was literallv world-wide. Red Y^^^ . 

'^^ ^ ^ America 

men scalped one another by the Great Lakes of North America, and India 
and Black men fought in Senegal in Africa ; while Frenchmen °°^ France 
and Englishmen grappled in India as well as in Germany, and 
their fleets engaged on every sea. Still the European conflict 
in the main decided the w ider results. William Pitt, the Eng- 
lish minister, who was working to build up a great British em- 
pire, declared that in Germany he w^ould conquer America from 
France. He did so. England furnished the funds, and her navy 
swept the seas. Frederick and Prussia, supported by English 
subsidies, furnished the troops and the generalship for the Euro- 
pean })attles. The striking figures of the struggle are (1) Pitt, 
the great English imperialist, the directing genius of the war ; 
(2) Frederick of Prussia, the military genius, who won Pitt's 
victories in German}^ ; (3) Wolfe, who won French America 
from the great Montcalm ; and (4) Clive, who established Eng- 
land's supremacy in India. 

The treaty of peace, in 1763, lejt Europe without change. But The Peace 
in India the French retained only a few^ unfortified trading posts. ° ^"^^ 
In America, England received Florida from Spain, and Canada 
and the eastern half of the Mississippi Valley from France. 
France ceded to Spain the western half of the ^lississippi Valley, 
in compensation for the losses Spain had incurred as her ally ; 
and, except for her West Indian islands, she herself ceased to he 
an American power. Spain still held South America and half 
North America ; but her vast bulk was plainly decaying day 
by day. Holland's wide colonial empire, too, w^as in decline. 
England stood forth as the leading icorld-po wcr. 



400 



EUROPEAN WARS OF GREED 



Why Eng- 
land won 
America 



The struggle in America had really been a war, not between Mont- 
calm and Wolfe, but between two kinds of colonization. Man 
for man, the French settlers were more successful woodsmen and 
Indian fighters than their English rivals ; but they could not 
build a state so icell. They got a good start first ; but, after a 
century of fostering care (p. 388) the French colonies did not grow. 
When the final conflict began, in 1754, France, with a home popu- 
lation four times that of England, had only one twentieth as 
many colonists in America as England had — 60,000 to about 
1,200,000. Moreover, despite her heroic eaders, the mass 
of French colonists had too little political activity to care 
much what country they belonged to, so long as they were 
treated decently. Wolfe's one victory at Quebec settled the 
fate of the continent. The lack of political vitality and of in- 
dividual enterprise in industry was the fatal weakness of New 
France. The opposite qualities made England successful. 
Says John Fiskc : " It is to the self-government of England, and 
to no lesser cause, that we are to look for the secret of that boundless 
vitality which has given to men of English speech the uttermost parts 
of the earth for an inheritance.'' 



The 

American 
Revolution 



The American Revolution is the next chapter in this series 
of wars. That war began because the English government 
unwisely insisted upon managing American affairs after the 
Americans were quite able to take care of themselves.^ Its real 
importance, even to Europe, lay in the establishment of an 
independent American nation and in teaching England, after 
a wliile, to improve her system of colonial government. But 
at the time, France and Spain saw in the American Revolution 
a chance to revenge themselves upon England by helping the 
best part of her empire to break away. 

1 The English colonial system in America had not been cruel or tyrannical 
nor seriously hampering in industry. Indeed, on both the industrial and 
political side, it was vastly more liberal than was the colonial policy of any 
other country in that age. But after Canada fell to England (p. 399), so 
that the colonists in the English colonies no longer feared French conquest, 
they began to resent even the slight interference of the English government. 
The freest people of the age, they were ready and anxious for more freedom. 
Cf. West's American People, pp. 185-191. 



AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 



401 



England did lose most of her empire in America; but she 
came out of the war with gains as well as losses. She had been 
fighting, not America alone, but France, Spain, Holland, and 
America. Theodore Roosevelt has put finely the result and 
character of this wider struggle {Gouvenieur Morris, 116) : 

"England, hemmed in by the ring of her foes, fronted them with a 
grand courage. ... In America, alone, the tide ran too strong to be 
turned. But Holland was stripped of all her colonies; in the East, 
Sir Eyre Coote beat down Hyder Ali, and taught Moslem and Hindoo 
alike that they could not shake off the grasp of the iron hands that held 
India ; Rodney won back for his country the supremacy of the ocean 
in that great sea-fight where he shattered the splendid French navy ; 
and the long siege of Gibraltar [p. 394] closed with the crushing over- 
throw of the assailants. So, with bloody honor, England ended the 
most disastrous war she had ever waged." 




Crossed Swords of Colonel William Prescott and Captain John Linzee, who 
fought on opposite sides at Bunker Hill. A grandson of Prescott and a 
granddaughter of Linzee married, and their offspring mounted these heir- 
looms in this way "in token of international friendship and family alli- 
ance." Now in the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Just before the American Revolution began, Russia, Prussia, " Parti- 
and Austria united to murder the old kingdom of Poland p^J^j^j^ 
and to divide the carcass. The anarchy of Poland gave 
its neighbors excuse. The population consisted of about twelve 
million degraded serfs, and one hundred thousand selfish, 
oligarchic nobles. The latter constituted the government. 
They met in occasional Diets, and, when the throne became 
vacant, they elected the figurehead king. Unanimous consent 
was required for any vote in the Diet, — each noble possessing 
the right of veto. 

Under such conditions, the Powers of Europe had begun to 
play w^ith Poland at will. Catherine II of Russia determined 
to seize a large part of the country. Frederick II persuaded 



402 



BENEVOLENT DESPOTS 



his old enemy, Austria, to join him in compelling Catherine 
to share the booty. The "First Partition," in 1772, pared 
off a rind about the heart. The Second and Third Partitions 
(1793, 1795), which "assassinated the kingdom," had not even 
the pretext of misgovernment in Poland. Tiie Poles had under- 
taken sweeping reforms, and the nation made a gallant defense 
under its hero-leader Kosciusko ; but the giant robbers wiped 
Poland off the map. Russia gained far the greatest part of the 
territory, and she now bordered Germany on the east, as France 
did on the west. 



Frederick 
"the 
Great " 
in peace 



The 

" benevo- 
lent 
despots " 



Frederick IPs reign doul)led the size of Prussia — but at 
the terrible cost of frontiers made only of fortresses and bay- 
onets. Frederick had shown himself a greedy robber and a mili- 
tary genius. With brutal cynicism he avowed absolute freedom 
from moral principle where a question of Prussia's power was 
at stake. Success, he declared, justified any means. This 
faithlessness he practiced, as well as taught ; and his success 
made this policy the creed of later Hohenzollerns. 

But there was another side to Frederick's life, which, more 
properly than his wars or his diplomacy, earns him his title of 
"the Great." Most of liis forty-six years' reign was passed in 
peace, and he proved a father to his people. The beneficent work 
of the Great Elector was taken up and carried forward vigor- 
ously. Prussia was transformed. Wealth and comfort in- 
creased by leaps, and the condition of even the serfs was im- 
proved. Unlike all the earlier Hohenzollerns, Frederick was 
also a patron of literature — thougli he admired only the arti- 
ficial French style of the age — and he was himself an author. 

Frederick is a type of the "crowned philosophers," or "be- 
nevolent despots," who sat upon the thrones of Europe in the 
latter half of the eighteenth century, just before the French 
Revolution. Under the influence of a new enlightened sen- 
timent, government underwent a marvelous change. It was 
just as autocratic as before, — no more by the people than be- 
fore, — but despots did try to govern for the people, not for 
themselves. 






'^ 


a 


a 






M 


M^ 




H 






fr- 


Utf 


M 


V 


<! 


es 


^ 


>£9 




a 


ar 


'^ 


«2 


BS 




b 






P^ 


b 




© 



AND THEIR FAILURE 403 

Frederick's genius and tireless energy accomplished some- 
thing for a time ; but on the whole the monarchs made lamentable 
failures. One man was powerless to lift the inert weight 
of a nation. The clergy and nobles, jealous for their privileges, 
opposed and thwarted the royal will. Except in England 
and France, there was no large middle class to supply friendly 
officials and sympathy. The kings, too, wished no participation 
by the people in the reforms : everything was to come from 
above. When the "benevolent despots" had to choose be- 
tween benevolence and despotism they always chose despotism. 

Further Reading upon the subject of the last three chapters may 
profitably be confined to the struggle for the New Worlds. The student 
should read Parkman's Works, especially his Montcalm and Wolfe and 
his Half Century of Conflict. The following biographies, too, are good : 
Wilson's Clive, Bradley's Wolfe, Morley's Walpole. 

Review Exercises 

1. Fact Drills. 

a. Dates with their significance : 1713, 1740, 1763, 1783. 
h. List six important battles between 1500 and 1789. 

2. Review by countries, with "catch- words," from 1500, or from some 

convenient event of about that date. 

3. Make a brief paragraph statement for the period 1648-1787, to 

include the changes in territory and in the relative power of the 
different European states. 



PAET X-THE FEENCH REVOLUTION 

You must teach that the French Revolution ivas an unmitigated crime 
against God and man. — Wilhelm II to teachers of history. 

The Revolution was a creating force, even more than a destroying one. 
— Frederic Harrison. 



CH.\PTER XLII 



" Revolu- 
tions break 
through in 
the weakest 
places " 



The middle 
class 



The nobles 
and clergy 



The 
peasants 



FRANCE (AND EUROPE) BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 

The "benevolent despots" had failed to reform society: 
now in France the people were to try for themselves. In that 
country the people were better off than anywhere else on the 
continent. They had risen far enough to see the possibility of 
rising further. But even there the social arrangements were 
atrocious. One per cent of the twenty-five million people were 
"privileged" drones (nobles and clergy), owning much more 
than half of all the wealth. Ninety -four per cent were cruelly 
oppressed workers, robbed of youth and life by crushing toil 
and insufficient food. Between these extremes came a small 
ambitious " middle class, " fairly prosperous and intelligent, but 
excluded from political influence, bearing a ruinous taxation, 
and bitterly discontented. This class (much larger than in 
any other continental country) was to furnish the ideas and most 
of the leaders for the Revolution. 

The privileged nobles no longer rendered service to society. 
They had become mere spenders and courtiers, — largely absentee 
landlords, not even living on their estates. The higher clergy 
(bishops and abbots) were the younger sons of the same noble 
families. They, too, squandered their immense revenues at 
court in idle luxury or vice, turning over their duties to sub- 
ordinates on paltry pay. (The Revolution found the village 
priests mostl}^ on the side of the people.) 

Over much of France the peasants lived in hideous misery. 
Famine was chronic in that fertile land, as in Russia in more 

404 



serfdom 



FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 405 

recent years. Taxation and feudal c.xiortion. dU'couragcd fann- 
ing. A fourth of the land lay waste. Of the rest, the tillage 
was little better than a thousand years before, with a yield a 
third less than in England. And if crops failed in one province, 
starvation followed (because of poor roads, and high tolls, and 
poverty, and the government's carelessness) although neighbor- 
ing provinces might possess abundance. One royal official 
describes how, even in ordinary times, "the children very 
commonly die" because of the coarse bread of bran and acorns 
on which they fed. 

True, conditions varied greatly in different parts of France. 
In some districts the peasants were fairly prosperous, and as a 
whole they were far ahead of the peasants in Germany or Italy 
or Spain or Austria. They played a part in the Revolution be- 
cause they had already progressed far enough to feel discontent. 

Serfdom lingered in Alsace and Lorraine, — regions seized Survivals of 
from Germany not long before (pp. 355, 393 ff.). Elsewhere 
the peasants had risen into villeinage somewhat like that in Eng- 
land before the uprising of 1381, four centuries before. Even 
v/hen the peasant owned his garden spot, he owned it subject to 
many ancient feudal obligations. He could not sell it without 
paying for his lord's consent, or sell any of his crop except in 
the lord's market, with tolls for the privilege. Commonly, 
he could still grind his grain only at the lord's mill, leaving 
one sixteenth the flour, and he could bake only in the lord's 
oven, leaving a loaf each time in pay. Under no circumstances 
might he injure the rabbits or pigeons or deer that devoured 
his crop. On penalty of death, he might not carry a gun, even 
to kill wolves. He could not enter his own field to till it, when 
the pheasants were hatching or the rabbits were young. Year 
after year the crops were trampled by huntsmen or devoured 
by game. 

Added to all this was the frightful royal taxation. Louis XIV, Crushing 
we have seen, left France burdened with a huge war debt. The 
dissolute Louis XV wasted as much in vice as his predecessor 
had wasted in war, while much of the rest of the revenue was 
given away in pensions to unworthy favorites, or stolen by 



taxes 



406 



FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 



Forced 
labor 



corrupt officials. (All receipts from taxation were subject to 
the king's order — as if they had been merely his private bank- 
ing account. No report was made to the nation, but some 
facts leaked out. On the eve of the Revolution, three maiden 
aunts of the king were receiving yearly nearly half a million 
dollars in our values merely for their food — most of which 
amount, of course, went to enrich dishonest stewards.) 

Emptied in these shameful ways, the treasury was filled in 
ways quite as shameful. The clergy were wholly exempt from 
taxation by law ; and the nobles escaped from some taxes by 
law, from others by bribery and intimidation. Said the rich- 
est man in France frankly — "I itiake arrangements with the 
officials, and pay only what I wish." Full payment was made 
only by those least able to pay. 

Various clumsy devices, too, made the collection needlessly 
burdensome. Two of the many direct taxes were especially 
offensive in this respect. (1) Roads and canals were built 
and kept up by forced unpaid labor (the corvee). At the call of an 
official the peasant must leave his own work for this, no matter 
how critical the time. (2) The main revenue came from a tax 
assessed upon peasant villages only and fixed each year artifmn/i/ 
by the government. On one occasion, an official wrote : " The 
people of this village are stout, and there are chicken feathers 
before the doors. The taxes here should be greatly increased 
next year." So, too, if a villager lived in a better house than 
his neighbors, the officials made him pay a larger share of the 
common village tax. So the peasants concealed jealously what 
, few comforts they had, and left their cottages in ruins. 

It is estimated that a peasant paid half his income in direct taxes 

to the government. Feudal dues and church tithes raised these 

payments to four fifths his income. And from the remaining 

fifth, he had not only to support his family but also to pay 

The salt tax various indirect taxes. The most famous of these was the 

gabelle, the tax upon salt,^ which raised the price of salt to four, 

ten, or twenty times its first value. Every family was compelled 

^ The man who sold the salt paid the tax to the government. The man 
who bought salt had of course to pay back the tax in a higher price. A tax 
collected in this way is called an indirect tax. 



" Rack' 
taxation 



DESPOTISM AND INEFFICIENCY 407 

by law to purchase from the government at least seven pounds 
a year for each member over seven years of age, and thousands 
of persons every year were hanged or sent to the galleys for 
trying to evade this law. (Even then, only a fifth of the 
amount collected ever reached the treasury. Like the tax on 
candles, fish, flour, and other necessities, the salt tax was 
"farmed" to collectors, who paid the government a certain 
amount and then took for their profit what they could get above 
that amount.) 

Another class of vexatious taxes were the still remaining Complex 
tolls on goods required not only at the frontier of France, but again 
and again, at the border of each province and even at the gate 
of each town. Fish, so great a necessity in a Catholic country, 
paid thirteen times their first cost in such tolls on their way to 
Paris from the coast. 

The government was a centralized despotism (p. 231). Di- The 
rectly about the king was a Council of State. Subject to the 
king's approval, it fixed taxes, drew up edicts, and ruled France. 
Its members were appointed by the king, and held office only 
at his pleasure. At the head of each province was a governor 
appointed by the king. Subject to the royal power, he was an 
unchecked despot. In the parish the mayor or syndic was 
sometimes chosen by the people, sometimes appointed by the 
governor ; but in either case the governor could remove him at 
will. The parish assembly could not meet without the gov- 
ernor's permission, and it could not take any action by itself. 
Had the wind damaged the parish steeple ? The parish might 
petition for permission to repair it, — at their own expense, of 
course. The governor would send the petition, with his recom- 
mendation, to the Council of State at Paris, and a reply might 
be expected only after long delays, when perhaps the damage 
was beyond repair. 

Personal liberty, too, was wholly at the mercy of this arbitrary Arbitrary 
government. Any man might be sent to prison without trial, ^"^P"son- 
merely by a " letter " with the royal seal. Not only were " letters 
of the seal" used to remove political offenders: they were 



govern- 
ment 



408 FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTIOl^ 

also sold, to private men who wished to get rid of rivals. 
The government of Louis XV issued 150,000 such letters. 
Usually the imprisonments were for a few months ; but some- 
times the victim was virtually forgotten and left to die in prison. 
Arthur Young, an English traveler in France just before the 
Revolution, tells of an Englishman who had been kept in a 
French prison thirty years, although not even the government 
held a record of the reason. 

An This despotic government was clumsy and inefficient. 

dTsDotTsm France was still a patchwork of territories which the kings 
had seized piece })y piece. Each province had its own 
laws and customs, its own privileges and partial exemptions 
from certain taxes. The shadows of old local governments had 
lost their power /or action, but remained powerful to delay and 
obstruct united action. Voltaire (p. 409) complained that in a 
journey one changed laws as often as he changed horses. 

The spirit of "A revolution requires not only abuses but also ideas." 
c ange j^^ France the combustibles were ready, and so were the men 

of ideas, to apply the match. Science had upset all old ideas 
about the world outside man. The telescope had proved that 
other planets like our earth revolved around the sun, and that 
myriads of other suns whirled through boundless space. The 
English Newton had shown how this vast universe is bound 
together by unvarying "laws." The microscope had revealed 
an undreamed-of world of minute life in air and earth and water 
all around us ; and air, earth, water (and fire) themselves had 
changed their nature. The Ancients had taught that they were 
the "original elements" out of which everything else was made 
up. But the French lavoisier, founder of modern chemistry, 
had lately decomposed water and air into gases, and shown 
that fire was a union of one of these gases with earthy carbon. 
Tradition and authority had been proved silly in the world of 
matter: perhaps they were not always right in the world of 
human society. 

English writers, enjoying freedom of speech and of the press, 
had begun a revolt against the authority of the past ; but their 



VOLTAIRE AND ROUSSEAU 



409 



speculations were now carried much farther by French writers, 
who quickly spread their influence over all Europe. About 1760 
there began an age of dazzling brilliancy in French literature and 
scholarship. Never before had any country seen so many and 
so famous men of letters 
at one time. Of the 
scores, we can mention 
only two. 

1. Voltaire had already 
won his fame in 1750, 
and he ruled as the in- 
tellectual monarch of 
Europe for thirty years 
more. He came from 
the middle class. As a 
young man, he had been 
imprisoned for libel by 
a "letter of the seal"; 
and a dissipated noble, 
angered by a witticism, 
had hired a band of ruf- 
fians to beat him nearly 
to death. Some years 
of exile he spent in 
England, where, he says, he "learned to think." He had 
biting satire, mocking wit, keen reasoning, and incisive, vigor- 
ous style. He railed at absentee bishops of licentious lives ; he 
questioned the privileges of the nobles ; and he exposed pit- 
ilessly the iniquity of the gabelle and of the " letters of the seal." 
The church seemed to him the chief foe to human progress ; 
and in his invective against its abuses he sometimes confused 
it with Christianity itself. Most of his work was destructive ; 
but there was no chance to build up in Europe until much of 
the old was torn down. Voltaire's lifelong exposure of the folly 
and wrong of religious persecution had much to do with creating 
the free atmosphere in which we live to-day. Says our American 
Lowell, " W^e owe half our liberty to that leering old mocker." 




Voltaire. — The bust by Houdon. 



Voltaire 
and his 
associates 



410 



FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 



Rousseau 

and 

democracy 



Louis XVI 



Marie 
Antoinette 

Turgot's 
reforms 



2. Voltaire and his fellows admired the constitutional mon- 
arch}^ of P]ngland ; but they looked for reform from some 
enlightened despot, rather than from free government. One 
alone among them stood for democracy. This was Rousseau. 
He wrote much that was absurd about an ideal " state of nature " 
before men " invented governments " ; but he taught, more force- 
fully than any man before him, the sovereignty of the whole 
people. His famous book {The Social Contract, 1762) opens 
with the words, "Man was born free, but he is now" everywhere 
in chains" ; and it argues passionately that it is man's right and 
duty to recover freedom. Rousseau's moral earnestness and 
enthusiasm made his doctrine almost a religion with his 
disciples.^ 

In 1774 the dissolute but able Louis XV was succeeded by the 
well-disposed but irresolute Louis XVI. This prince had a 
^•ague notion of what was right and a general desire to do it, 
but he lacked moral courage and energy. The queen was Marie 
Antoinette, daughter of the great Maria Theresa of Austria. 
She was young and high-spirited but ignorant and frivolous. 

Reform began, and finally the Revolution began, because the 
royal treasury was bankrupt. Louis called to his aid Turgot, 
a successful Provincial governor already famous as a reformer. 
This officer now cut down ruthlessly the frivolous expenses of 
the court, and abolished the corvee, the remaining tolls on com- 
merce, and the outgrown gild system. He planned more far- 
reaching reforms — to recast the whole system of taxes so that 
the rich should pay their share, and to abolish feudal dues. 
But the courtiers grumbled, and the queen cast black looks 
upon the reformer who interfered with her gayeties ; and so 
after a few months the weak king dismissed the man "with a 
whole pacific Revolution in his head." 

^ Some years before the French Revolution began, the ideas, and even 
some of the phrases, of Rousseau began to have a powerful influence in 
America. Rousseau, however, drew these ideas to a great extent from 
John Locke and other English writers of the seventeenth century, and we 
cannot always tell whether reference to natural equality in a document of 
the American Revolution is affected by Rousseau or directly by the older 
English literature. 



TURGOT AND NECKER 411 

Still in 1776 Louis called to the helm Xecker, a successful Necker 
banker and another reformer. Necker was not a great states- 
man like Turgot, but he had liberal views and a good business 
head. His difficulties, however, were tremendously augmented 
in 1778 when Louis joined zVmerica against England (p. 400). 
The new expense of this war made it plainly impossible (on the 
old plans) to pay even the interest on the national debt. Necker 
suggested sweeping reform in taxation, along Turgot 's lines; 
but the loud outcry of the nobles caused the king to dismiss 
him also from office (1781). Necker, however, had let the nation 
know just how it was being plundered. He had published a " re- 
port" on the finances, showing who paid the taxes and how 
much, and how the revenues were wasted. This paper was read 
eagerly and angrily by the middle class. 

For a few years more the king's ministers kept the govern- 
ment and the court going by borrowing unscrupulously with 
no prospect of paying. But the time came when not even the 
king's promise could induce any one to lend. Taxes must 
yield more ; and Louis learned at last the teaching of Turgot 
and Necker — that the only way to raise more money by taxes 
was to tax those who had more wherewith to pay. The privi- 
leged orders, however, had not learned this lesson. When the 
king begged, and finally ordered, them to give up their 
exemptions, they tried to evade the issue by arguing that the 
only authority with rightful power to impose new taxes was 
the States General. Unwittingly they had invoked a power 
that was to destroy them. The almost forgotten States Gen- 
eral (p. 291) had not met since 1614. Now the middle class 
took up the cry for it until the name rang through France. In 
August of 1788 the king surrendered. He recalled Necker 
and called a States General. 

For Further Reading. — Some material may be found in Rob- 
inson's Readings. Of modern accounts the student should read either 
Shailer Mathews' French Revolution, 1-110, or Mrs. Gardiner's French 
Revolution, 1-32. 



CHAPTER XLIII 



THE REVOLUTION IN PEACE 



Election of 
the States 
General 



One house 
or three 



For the election of the States General, the government marked 
France off into many districts. The nobles of each district 
came together and chose certain delegates from their "order"; 
the clergy did likewise ; and all other taxpayers in the district 
were allowed to vote for an electoral college, which then chose 
delegates for their class — " the third estate." 

There had been vehement discussion as to how the Estates 
General should vote. Anciently the three orders sat in sep- 
arate "houses," each having one vote. Under that arrange- 
ment, nobles and clergy (representing only a fraction of the 
nation) would have two thirds tlie power. Accordingly there 
was a loud demand from the middle class, and from liberal no- 
bles like Lafayette (recently returned from America), (1) that 
the third estate should have as many delegates as the other two 
orders combined, and (2) that the three estates should sit and 
act as one body. The king finally granted the "double repre- 
sentation" (300 nobles, 300 clergy, 600 of the thia*d estate); 
but at once tried to make this concession worse than useless by 
requiring the three orders to act as three separate units. 

May 5, 1789, Louis formally opened the States General at 
Versailles — the favorite royal residence, twelve miles south- 
west from Paris. His address made it plain that he ex- 
pected the estates to grant him new taxes, and promptly 
disperse. After this address the nobles and clergy with- 
drew from the hall (as the king desired) and "organized" as 
separate chambers ; but the third estate, with skillful general- 
ship, insisted at first that it could not act while so many " depu- 
ties of the nation'^ were absent, and sent pressing invitations to 
the others to join in one assembly so as to get at work " to save 

412 



PLATE LXXIV 





m- 






:\1 



Above. — Iulntains in the \ kk-saillks GAKuti\&. 

Below. — The Palace of Versailles. - — The palace and park (and the 
road from Paris) were built by Louis XIV at enormous expense. 



THE STATES GENERAL 413 

France." This deadlock continued for many weeks. Finally The Na- 
(June 17) when further delay was plainly dangerous, the third ^^^^^s- 
estate voted that even without the "absent" delegates its mem- 
bers practically represented the nation. Accordingly, still in- 
viting the other delegates to join, it organized as a ''National 
Assembly.'" This ivas a revolution. It changed a gathering of 
feudal "Estates" into an assembly representing the nation as one 
whole. Nothing of this kind had ever been seen before .on the con- 
tinent of Europe. 

Two days later, the National Assembly was joined by half The Tennis 
the clergy and by a few nobles. But the next morning the y°"^* ' 
Assembly found sentries at the doors of their hall, and carpen- 1789 
ters within putting up staging, to prepare for a "royal session. " 
Plainly the king was about to interfere. The delegates ad- 
journed to a tennis court near by, and there with stern enthu- 
siasm they unanimously took a memorable oath never to separate 
until they had established a constitution.^ 

As anticipated, however, Louis summoned the three estates Vacillation 
to meet him and ordered them to organize as separate bodies and °^ *^® ^"^ 
to vote certain specified reforms. When he left the hall, the 
nobles and higher clergy followed. The new ''National As- 
sembly" kept their seats. There was a moment of uncertainty; 
but Mirabeau, a noble who had abandoned his order, rose to 
remind the delegates of their great oath. The royal master 
of ceremonies, reentering, asked haughtily, if they had not 
heard the king's command to disperse. "Yes," broke in 
Mirabeau's thunder; "but go tell 3 our master that we are 
here by the poiver of the people, and that nothing but the 
power of bayonets shall drive us away." Then, on Mira- 
beau's motion, the Assembly decreed the inviolability of its 
members : " Infamous and guilty of capital crime is any person 
or court that shall dare pursue or arrest any of them, on whose 
part soever the same be commanded." 

The king's vacillation prevented conflict. Paris was rising 
in arms, and when the regular troops were ordered to fire on the 

1 The idea of a written constitution had come to P>ance from America. 
See West's Modern Progress, 271. 



414 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



Attempt at 
counter- 
revolution 



Fall of 

the Bastille, 

July 14 



mob, they rang their musket butts sullenly on the pavement, 
muttering, "We are the army 0/ the Nation!'' ^ The next day 
forty-seven nobles joined the Assembly, and in a week the king 
ordered the rest to do so. 

The courtiers still planned a counter-revolution, and again 
won over the weak king. To overawe the Assembly (and 
probably to seize liberal leaders) he assembled near Paris sev- 
eral regiments of German and Swiss mercenaries, who could be 
depended upon to obey orders. On Mirabeau's motion the 
Assembly bluntly requested the king to remove this threat. 
Louis answered by dismissing and exiling Xecker, who had op- 
posed the court policy. 

This was on the evening of July 11. About noon the next 
day, the news was whispered on the streets. Camille Desmou- 
lins, a young journalist, pistol in hand leaped upon a table in 
one of the public gardens, exclaiming, "Necker is dismissed. 
It is a signal for a St. Bartholomew of patriots. To arms ! To 
arms!" By night the streets bristled with barricades against 
the charge of the king's cavalry, and the crowds were sacking 
gunshops for arms. Three regiments of the French Guards 
joined the rebels, and two days later the revolutionary forces at- 
tached the Bastille. 

The Bastille was the great "state prison" for political of- 
fenders and victims of "letters of the seal." Thus it was a 
detested symbol of the "Old Regime." It had been used as an 
arsenal, and the rebels went to it at first only to demand arms. 
Refused admission and fired upon, they made a frantic attack. 
The fortress was virtually impregnable ; but after some hours of 
wild onslaught, it surrendered to an almost unarmed force, — 
"taken," as Carlyle says, "like Jericho, by miraculous sound." 
The anniversary of its destruction is still celebrated in France 
as the birthday of political liberty, like our July 4. 

This rising of Paris had saved the Assembly. The most hated 
of the courtiers fled from France in terror. The king visited 



^ Some of these regiments had served recently' In America. Arthur Young 
(p. 408) had already declared, — "The American revolution has laid the 
foundations for another one in France." 



> 
X 
X 

< 

fin 




FALL OF THE BASTILLE 



415 



Paris, sanctioned all that had been done, sent away his troops, 
accepted the tricolor (red, white, and blue), the badge of the Rev- 
olution, as the national colors, and recalled Necker. 

The fall of the Bastille gave the signal for a brief mob-rule Local 

anju-chy 




Fall of the Bastille. — From a drawing !»;> Pricur. 

over all France. In towns the mobs demolished local "bas- 
tilles." In the country the lower peasantry and bands of vaga- 
bonds plundered and demolished castles. Each district had 
its carnival of plunder. The king could not restore order, be- 
cause the machinery of the government had collapsed ; but 
everywhere the middle class organized to put down anarchy — 
and so really saved the Revolution. All over France the elec- 
toral colleges (p. 412) had met from time to time to keep in 
touch with their delegates or to send them instructions : and 
now, in the failure of the royal government, these representative 
bodies made themselves into local governments. Their first 
act in each district was to organize the middle-class inhabitants 
into armed patrols to restore order. (This militia became per- 
manent — sanctioned soon by the National Assembly as 
'' National Guards," with Lafayette as supreme commander.) 

Meantime, on the evening of August 4, the report of a com- 
mittee on the disorders throughout the country had stirred the 



Put down 
by middle 
class organi- 
zation 



416 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



August 4 : 
abolition of 
privilege 



Assembly deeply. A young noble, who had served in America 
with Lafayette, declared that the commotion was all due to the 
special privileges of his class, and, with impassioned oratory, he 
moved their instant abolition. One after another, in eager 
emulation, the liberal nobles followed, each proposing some sac- 
rifice for his order, — game laws, dovecotes, tithes, exclusive 
right to military office, and a mass of sinecures and pensions, — 
and each proposal was promptly voted, with enthusiastic 
applause. The work was done hastily, but it was noble and 
necessary, and it has never been undone. August 4 ended feudal- 
ism ond established legal equality in France. (This removal 
of abuses was one reason why anarchy was so easily suppressed.) 



" March of 
the women,' 
October 5, 
1789 



After these fruitful three months (May 5-August 4, 1789), 
the Assembly spent two years more in revolutionizing France 
and in drawing up a new constitution. Once more only it was 
endangered by the king. Early in October he again collected 
troops near Versailles, and at a military banquet (it was re- 
ported) young officers, to win the favor of court ladies, trampled 
upon the tricolor. The Paris mol) (still loyal to the king) began 
to demand that Louis should come to Paris, to be near the 
Assembly and away from evil counselors. One riotous ex- 
pedition to bring him to the capital was turned back by the 
National Guards ; but thousands of the women of the market 
place then set out on a like attempt, in a wild, hungry,^ haggard 
rout, followed by the riffraff of the cit}'. 

Lafayette permitted the movement to go on, until there 
came near being a terrible massacre at Versailles ; but his tardy 
arrival, late at night, with twenty thousand National Guards, 
restored order. The king yielded to the demands of the 
crowd and to the advice of Lafayette ; and the same day a 
strange procession escorted the royal family to Paris, — the 
mob dancing in wild joy along the road before the royal car- 
riage, carrying on pikes the heads of some slain soldiers, and 

1 France was in the grip of famine when the States General met — due 
to a succession of poor harvests ; and the general confusion had prevented 
a rapid recovery. 



MARCH OF THF WOMEN 417 

shouting jocularly, "Now we shall have bread, for we are 
bringing the baker, the baker's wife, and the baker's little 
boy." 

The king's brothers and some 150,000 nol)les fled from The 
France, — and soon were trying in foreign lands to stir up migrant 
war against their country. Nearly a fourth of the Assembly, 
too, withdrew, declaring that that body was no longer free. 
And it is true that from this time mobs in the galleries and 
in the streets did sometimes intimidate conservative speak- 
ers. During the rest of its life, danger to the Assembly came 
from this source, not from the court. 

One man in the Assembly never hesitated to oppose the mob, Mirabeau 
and often won it to his side. Mirabeau was the great man of 
the National Assembly. He was a profound statesman, with 
marvelous oratory and dauntless courage. (Unhappily his 
arrogance made him enemies among close associates : both 
Necker and Lafayette hated him.) IMirabeau thought the 
revolution had gone far enough, and he wished to preserve the 
remaining royal power so as to prevent anarchy. He urged the 
king to accept the new constitution in good faith and to sur- 
round himself with a liberal ministry acceptable to the Assembly. 
Indeed, as the mob grew more and more violent, IMirabeau 
wished Louis to leave Paris (where he was practically a prisoner) 
and appeal to the country provinces against the capital. But 
while the king hesitated, Mirabeau died suddenly, broken down 
by work and dissolute living. 

Then Louis decided to flee, not to French provinces, but to Attempted 
Austria, to raise war against the reforms of the Revolution. The t^e^Mn^ 
plot failed. The royal family did get out of Paris (Louis dis- 
guised as a valet), but, through the king's indecision, they were 
recognized and brought back. Then followed another popular Massacre of 

rising — with much excuse — to induce the Assemblv to dethrone the Champs 
°. " de Mars, 

the king and set up a republic. Crowds of workingmen with July 17, 
women and children flocked out to the Champs de Mars (an open ^'^^^ 
space near the city where the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille 
had just been celebrated) to sign a petition for this action. The 
municipal authorities forbade the gathering ; and finally La- 



418 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



fayette's National Guards dispersed the jeering but unarmed 
mob with deadly volleys. 

This massacre marks a sharp division between the working 
class and the middle class. For the time, the latter carried the 
day. September 14, 1791, Louis took a solemn oath to uphold 
the new constitution, and was restored to power. 



The Consti- 
tution of 
1791 



The Constitution of 1791 opened with a noble "Declaration 
of the Rights of Man" — suggested no doubt by the Bills of 
Rights in some of the American state constitutions. It pro- 
claimed : (1) "Men are born equal in rights, and remain so"; 

(2) " Law is the expression of the will of all the people ; every 
citizen has a right to sliare in making it ; and it must be the same 
for all." And so on, through a number of provisions. French- 
men were declared equal before the law, and equally eligible to 
public office. Hereditary titles and all special privileges were 
abolislied. Jury trial, freedom of religion, and freedom of the 
press were established. The great Declaration has justified the 
boast of the Assembly — that it " shall serve as an everlasting 
war cry against oppressors." 

The Declaration of Rights cared for personal liberties. The 
arrangements concerning the government secured a very large 

(1) The Central government was made 
to consist of the king and a Legislative Assembly of one House 
elected anew once in two years. The king could not dissolve the 
Assembly, and his veto could be overridden if three successive leg- 
islatures so decided. (2) For local government^ the historic " prov- 
inces," with their troublesome peculiar privileges, were swept 
away. France was divided into 83 "departments" of nearly 
equal size. Each "department," and each of the "communes" 
(villages or towns) of which it was made up, chose a council 
and an executive with very complete control over local affairs. 

(3) The franchise was given to all taxpaj^ers, but the higher 
elective offices were open only to men of considerable wealth. 
This device of graded property qualifications secured control to 
the middle class. (The same device was common in America. 
None of our states then had manhood suffrage.) 



A constitu- 
tional mon- 
archy under 

middle-class amount of political liberty 
control 



THE CONSTITUTION OF 1791 



419 



land-owners 



Church and state had always been united in France, and they Church 
were now made even more so. The government assumed the 
duty of paying the clergy and keeping up the churches, and 
clergy of all grades were made elective. Unfortunately they were 
required to take an oath of fideUty to the constitution in a form 
repulsive to many sincere Catholics. Only four of the old bishops 
took the oath ; and two thirds of the parish priests, including 
the most sincere and conscientious among them, were driven 
into opposition to the Revolution. The greatest error of the 
Assembly was in arraying religion against patriotism. 

Great good, however, followed from one other feature of this Peasant 
arrangement. The nation took possession of the church lands 
— one fifth of all France — and sold them. In the outcome, the 
lands passed in small parcels into the hands of the peasantry 
and the middle class, and so laid the foundation for future pros- 
perity. France became a land of small farmers, and the peas- 
antry rose to a higher standard of comfort than such a class in 
Europe had ever known. 

Exercise. — 1. Point out both direct and indirect ways in which 
the American Revolution helped prepare for the French Revolution. 
2. Compare the methods of the middle class and the nobles of France 
in 1789 with those of corresponding classes in Russia in 1917. 3. Com- 
pare the "suspensive" veto (p. 418) with the American plan of getting 
rid of the old "absolute" veto. Which plan is in use to-day in the most 
free governments ? 4. Can the franchise provision of the Constitution 
of 1791 be reconciled with the Declaration of Rights? 

For Further Reading. — The best one-volume history of the 
Revolution is that by Shailer Mathews. Next comes Mrs. Gardiner's, 
more conservative and less interesting. There are excellent treatments 
in H. Morse Stephens' Revolutionary Europe^ 1789-1815, and in Rose's 
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era. The best of the larger works in Eng- 
lish is H. Morse Stephens' History of the French Revolution. Carlyle's 
French Revolution remains the most powerful and vivid presentation, 
but it can be used to best advantage after some preliminary study upon 
the age. Among the biographies, the following are especially good : 
Belloc's Danton, Willert's Mirabeau, Blind's Madam Roland, and Mor- 
ley's Robespierre (in Miscellanies, I). For fiction, Dickens' Tale of 
Two Cities and Victor Hugo's Ninety-Three are notable. Anderson's 
Constitutions and Documents contains interesting source material, like the 
Tennis Court Oath and many of the "decrees" referred to in this book. 



CHAPTER XLIV 



THE REVOLUTION IN WAR TIME 



The Legisla- 
tive Assem- 
bly, Sep- 
tember of 
1791 to 
April of 
1792 



Constitu- 
tionalists 



Girondists 

and 

Jacobins 



Marat, Dan- 
ton, Robes- 
pierre 



As the constitution directed, France at once chose a Legisla- 
tive Assembly (September, 1791) of nearly 750 members. The 
great bulk of the nation had accepted the Revolution enthusi- 
astically ; but they considered it over, and they had not learned 
the need of ceaseless vigilance in politics. A very large part 
therefore took no part in the election. At first, however, about 
two thirds the delegates seemed to represent this part of the 
nation. Their leaders were known as Constitutionalists (support- 
ers of the constitution as it stood). Outside ^ the Assembly, this 
party was led by Lafayette, now the most influential man in 
France. 

A small minority of the nation would have preferred a more 
liberal constitution — with manhood franchise and perhaps a 
republican government. These few "radicals" won a third of 
the seats in the Assembly because of their organization in 
"Jacobin" clubs.- (Xo other party had an}- organization 
whatever.) The most prominent leaders of this group were 
called the Girondists (because several of them came from the 
Gironde Department). They were hot-headed, eloquent young 
men given to lofty speaking of fine sentiments, liut not fit for 
swift and decisive action. 

One small section of extreme Jacol)ins — only about a dozen, 
known as the Mountain because of their elevated seats at one 
side of the gathering — held men of a difi'erent stamp. Here 
sat Marat and Danton. Marat was a physician of eminence, 

i The old Assembly had generously but unwisely made its delegates in- 
eligible to the following one. Thus the Legislative Assembly was made up 
of inexperienced men. 

2 A radical club which sprang up in Paris in the fall of 1789 took this name 
fromt its meeting place. Soon it established daughter societies in other 
cities, and kept up close correspondence with them on political matters. 
These daughter clubs showed a disciplined obedience to the mother society. 

420 



GIRONDISTS AND JACOBINS 421 

with a sincere pity for the poor. He was jealous and suspicious, 
however, and became half-crazed under the strain of the Rev- 
olution. As early as 1789 his paper ("The Friend of the Peo- 
ple") began to preach assassination of aristocrats. Dantoti 
was a lawyer of Paris. He became prominent early in the Jaco- 
bin clubs, and his rude eloquence and his control over the mob 
won him the name " the Mirabeau of the Market Place." He 
was a man of rugged and forceful nature and a born leader — with 
little patience for the fine speechifying of the Girondists where 
deeds were needed. 

Outside the Assembly there was a third leader of this radical Robespierre 
group. Before the Revolution, Robespierre had been a precise 
young lawyer in a provincial town. He had risen to a judge- 
ship — the highest position he could ever expect to attain — but 
he had resigned his office because he had conscientious scruples 
against imposing a death penalty upon a criminal. He was an 
enthusiastic disciple of Rousseau. He w'as narrow^ dull, en- 
vious, pedantic ; but logical, incorruptible, sincere. In the 
preceding Assembly, Mirabeau had said of him, — " That man 
is dangerous ; he will go far ; he believes every ivord he says.'' 

The new Assembly, still with tremendous problems at home Foreign 
to solve, found itself at once threatened with foreign w^ar. The P®" ^ 
emigrant nobles (p. 417), breathing vengeance, were gathering on 
the Rhine frontier under the protection of German princes, rais- 
ing and drilling mercenary troops. They had secret sympathi- 
zers within France ; and in the early winter a treasonable plot to 
betray to them the key to France, the great fortress of Strass- 
burg, all but succeeded. The danger was real. The Assembly 
sternly and promptly condemned to death all Emigrants who 
should not return to France before a certain date ; but the king 
vetoed the decree. 

Moreover, the king's brother-in-law^ the Emperor Leopold, The Revolu- 
had already sent to the sovereigns of Europe a circular note, call- £°^Qpgan 
ing for common action against the Revolution, inasmuch as the kings 
cause of Louis was ''the cause of kings." The Revdtution stood 
for a new social order. Its cause was "the cause of peo- 



422 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



The Assem 
bly accepts 
war 



The king's 
vetoes 



France 
girdled 
v/ith foes 



Brunswick's 
Proclama- 
tion: 
July 25 



pies"; and the kings felt that they must crush it before it 
spread. 

The Legislative Assenibh'^ properly demanded of Leopold that 
he disperse the armies of the Emigrants and that he apologize 
for his statements. Leopold replied with a counter-demand for 
a change in the French government such as to secure Europe 
against the spread of revolution. This insolent attempt of a 
German potentate to dictate the policy of the French people 
aroused a natural tempest of scorn and wrath ; and (April, 1792) 
France declared war. 

The French levies at once invaded Belgium (then an Austrian 
province, p. 394), but w^ere rolled l)ack in defeat. The German 
powers, however, were busy robbing Poland (p. 402), and a few 
weeks more for preparation were given France. During these 
weeks, the Assembly decreed the banishment of all priests who 
refused to take the oath to the constitution (many of whom were 
spies), and it provided for a camp of twenty thousand chosen 
patriots to guard the capital. Louis vetoed both Acts. By June, 
France was girdled with foes. The Empire, Prussia, and Savoy 
(a powerful state in North Italy) were in arms. Naples and 
Spain were soon to join. Sweden and Russia both offered to do 
so, if they were needed. In July a Prussian army, commanded 
by old officers of Frederick the Great, crossed the frontier ; and 
two Austrian armies, one from the Netherlands and one from the 
upper Rhine, converged upon the same line of invasion. The 
French troops were outnuml^ered three to one. Worse still, the 
army was demoralized by the resignation of many officers in the 
face of the enemy, and still more by a justifiable suspicion that 
many of those remaining sympathized with the invaders. 
Within France, too, were royalist risings and plots ; and the king 
was using his veto to prevent effective resistance. The queen 
— whom the Paris mob now styled "the Austrian Woman" — 
had even betrayed the French plan of campaign. 

Brunswick, the Prussian commander, counted upon a holiday 
march to Paris. July 25 he issued a famous proclamation declar- 
ing (1) that Ihe allies entered France to restore Louis to his place, 
(2) that all men taken with arms in their hands should be hanged, 



AND "THE CAUSE OF KINGS" 



423 



and (3) that, if Louis were injured, he would "inflict a memo- 
rable vengeance " by delivering up Paris to military execu- 
tion. 

This bluster, with its threat of Prussian " frightfulness," was 
fatal to the king. France rose in rage. But before the new 
troops marched to the front, they insisted upon guarding against 
enemies in the rear. liOuis must not be left free to paralyze ac- 
tion, again, at some critical moment, by his veto. Constitution- 
alists and Girondists alike stood by the king, but the Jacobin 
radicals carried their point by insurrection. Led by Danton, 
they forcibly displaced the middle-class municipal council of 
Paris with a new government; and this "Commune of Paris" 
prepared an attack upon the Tuileries for August 10. After con- 
fusing his guards with contradictory orders, the king and his 
family fled to the Assembly, leaving the faithful Swiss regiment 
to be massacred. Bloody from this slaughter, the rebels forced 
their way into the hall of the Assembly. Two thirds of the dep- 
uties had fled, and the "rump" of Girondists and Jacobins now 
decreed the deposition of Louis, and the innnediate election, by 
manhood suffrage, of a Convention to frame a new government. 
Lafayette (commander of the French army on the Rhine) tried 
to lead his troops against Paris to restore the king. He found 
his arm.y ready, instead, to arrest him ; and so he fled to the Aus- 
trians — by whom he was cast into prison, to remain there until 
freed years later by Napoleon's victories. 

The rising of August 10 had been caused by the fear of foreign 
invasion and of treason at home. Three weeks later the same 
causes led to one of the most terrible events in history. The 
"Commune of Paris," under Danton's leadership, had packed 
the prisons with three thousand "suspected" aristocrats. Then 
came the terrifying news of the shameful surrender of Longwy 
and Verdun, — two great frontier fortresses guarding the road 
to Paris. The new Paris volunteers hesitated to go to the front, 
lest the numerous prisoners recently arrested should now break 
out and avenge themselves upon the city. So, while Danton 
was hurrying recruits to meet Brunswick, the frenzied mob at- 
tacked the prisons, organized rude lynch courts, and on Sep- 



August 10 : 

Louis 

deposed 



Surrender 
of Verdun 



And the 

" September 

Massacres " 



424 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



Excused 
by the 
Jacobins 



France " at 
war with 
kings " 



The Revolu- 
tionary 
propaganda 



tember 2, 3, and 4, massacred a thousand of the prisoners with 
only the shadow of a trial. 

Whether the Jacobin leaders had a secret hand in starting 
these atrocious executions, we do not know. Certainly they did 
not try to stop them ; but neither did any other body of persons. 
Says Carl3de : "Very desirable indeed that Paris had interfered, 
yet not unnatural that it stood looking on in stupor. Paris is 
in death-panic . . . gibbets at its door. Whosoever in Paris 
hath heart to front death finds it more pressing to do so fighting 
the Prussians than fighting the slayers of aristocrats." The 
Jacobins, however, did openly accept the massacres, when 
committed, as a useful means of terrifying the royalist 
plotters. When the Assembly talked of punishment, Danton 
excused the deed. "It was necessary to make our enemies 
afraid," he cried. "... Blast my memory, but let France be 
free." 

Freed from internal peril, France turned upon her foes splen- 
didly, September 20 the ad\'ancing Prussians were checked at 
Valmy; and November 9 the victory of Jcrmnapes, the first real 
pitched battle of the war, opened the Austrian Netherlands to 
French conquest. Another French army had already entered 
Germany, and a third had occupied Nice and Savoy. These 
successes of raw French volunteers over the veterans of Europe 
called forth an orgy of democratic enthusiasm. The new Na- 
tional Convention (September 21, 1792) became at once, in 
Danton's phrase, "a general committee of insurrection for all 
nations." It ordered a manifesto in all languages, offering the 
alliance of the French nation to all peoples who wished to recover 
their liberties ; and French generals, entering a foreign country, 
were ordered "to abolish serfdom, nobility, and all monopolies and 
privileges, and to aid in setting up a new government upon principles 
of popular sovereignty.^' One fiery orator flamed out, — "Des- 
pots march against us with fire and sword. We will bear 
against them Liberty !" 

Starving and ragged, but welcomed by the invaded peoples, the 
French armies sowed over Europe the seed of civil and political 
liberty. The Revolution was no longer merely French, It took 



PLATE I.XXVI 







AT WAR WITH EUROPE 425 

on the zeal of a proselyting religion, and spread its principles by 
fire and sword. 

France at large had not willed the deposition of Louis, The First 

but it now ratified that deed. When the new Convention met, ^^®^*S. 

Republic 

the Constitutionalist party had disappeared. The great ma- 
jority of the delegates were followers of the Girondists ; but 
on the Mountain sat Robespierre, Danton, and Marat, with a 
somewhat larger following than before. On its first afternoon the 
Convention declared monarchy abolished, and enthusiastically 
established "The French Republic, One and Indivisible." 

The radicals were bent also upon punishing Louis. They Execution of 
were convinced of his treason, and they wished to make recon- *^® ^^^ 
ciliation with the old order of things impossible. Said Danton : 
"The allied kings march against us. Let us hurl at their feet, 
as the gage of battle, the head of a king." The Girondists 
wished to save Louis' life, but they were intimidated by the gal- 
leries ; and " Louis Capet" was condemned to death for " treason 
to the nation." 

Then the Convention proposed a new written constitution Constitution 
for the Republic. This document was extremely democratic. It ^ t 
swept away all the checks of indirect elections and property qual- 
ifications, and made all citizens " equally sovereign." Further, it 
made all acts of the legislature subject to a " referendum." This 
Constitution of the Year I ^ was itself submitted to such a referen- 
dum, and ivas adopted by the nation. No country had ever had 
so democratic a constitution. Nor had any great nation ever 
before adopted its government by direct vote of the people. 

The constitution, however, never went into operation. The Con- 
vention suspended it, declaring that France was in danger, and 
that the government must be left free from constitutional checks 
until war was over. (This was one of the first demonstrations 
in history of the fundamental truth that war is a despot's game, 
and that democracies can play it successfully only by ceasing, 
for the time, at least, to be democracies.) 

^ The Convention estabHshed for the time a new Revolutionary calendar, 
— a good topic for a student to report upon. 



426 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



Treason and 
dissension 



The Giron- 
dists give 
way to the 
Jacobins 



Gironde 
rebellion 
and foreign 
invasion 



France was indeed in danger. The execution of the king was 
one factor in deciding England, Spain, Holland, Naples, and 
Portugal to join the war against France, and it offended many 
French patriots. Dumouriez, an able but unscrupulous gen- 
eral, who had succeeded Lafayette as the chief military leader, 
tried to play traitor, in the spring of 1793, by surrendering Bel- 
gian fortresses to the Austrians and by leading his army to Paris 
to restore the monarchy. His troops refused to follow him, and 
he fled to the enemy ; but Belgium was lost for a time and once 
more the frontier was open to attack. 

Ever since the Convention met, dissension had threatened 
between the Gironde majority and the Mountain. The Moun- 
tain was supported by the masses of Paris ; but, outside the cap- 
ital, the Girondists were much the stronger, and they now took 
the moment of foreign danger to press the quarrel to a head. 
They accused Marat of stirring up the September massacres, and 
persuaded the Convention to order his trial. Then they were 
mad enough to charge Danton with royalist conspiracy. 

Danton, who was straining his mighty strength to send re- 
inforcements to the front, pleaded at first for union ; but, when 
this proved vain, he turned savagely upon his assailants. " You 
were right," he cried to his friends on the Mountain. "There 
is no peace possible with these men. Let it be war, then. They 
will not save the Republic with us. It shall be saved without 
them ; saved in spite of them." 

And while the Girondists debated, the Mountain acted. It 
was weak in the Convention, but it was supreme in the galleries 
and in the streets and in the Commune of Paris. The Commune, 
which had carried the Revolution of August 10 against the Leg- 
islative Assembly, now marched its forces against the Con- 
vention (June 2, 1793) and held it prisoner until it passed a decree 
imprisoning thirty of the leading Girondists. Others of that 
party fled, and the Jacobin Mountain was left in power. 

Fugitive Girondists now aroused the provinces against the 
Jacobin capital, and gathered armies at Marseilles, Bordeaux, 
Caen. Lyons, the second city in France, even raised the white 
flag of the monarchy, and opened it^ gates to an Austrian army ; 



THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC 'SAFETY 427 

and the great port of Toulon admitted an English fleet. Else- 
where, too, royalist revolt reared its head. Especially in the 
remote province of Vendee (in ancient Brittany), the simple, 
half-savage peasants were still slavishly devoted to king, priest, 
and hereditary lord, and they rose now in wild rebellion against 
the Republic. The Convention, with Paris and a score of the 
central Departments, faced the other three fourths of France 
as well as the rest of Europe. 

So far, the Revolutionists had been afraid of a real executive, And the 
as a danger to freedom ; but these new perils forced the Con- ^^ pubUc 
vention to intrust power to a despotic "Committee of Public Safety 
Safety," with twelve members, — all from the Mountain, The 
Convention made all other national committees and offi- 
cers the servants of this great Committee, and ordered even 
the municipal officials over France to give it implicit obe- 
dience. 

The Committee were not trained administrators, but they 
were men of practical business sagacity and of tremendous en- 
^i'gy> — such men as a revolution must finally toss to the top. 
In the war office, Caniot "organized victory"; beside him, in 
the treasury, labored Cambon, with his stern motto, " War to the 
manorhouse: peace to the hut" ; while a group of such men as 
Robespierre and St. Just sought to direct the Revolution so as to 
refashion France according to new ideals of democracy and of 
welfare for the common man. 

Nearly a hundred "Deputies on Mission'' were sent out from Order, 
the Convention to all parts of France to enforce obedience to ^J^tory^" 
the Committee. They reported every ten days to the Com- 
mittee; but, subject to its approval, they exercised despotic 
power, — replacing civil authorities at will, seizing money or 
supplies for the national use, imprisoning and condemning to 
death. Never has a despotism been more efficient. In October 
Lyons was captured and ordered razed to the ground. Toulon was 
taken, despite English aid, and punished sternly. Other centers 
of revolt, paralyzed with fear, yielded. Order and union were 
restored. Before the year closed, French armies had taken the 
offensive once more on all frontiers. 



428 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



The " Long 
Terror " 



Violence 
only an inci- 
dent due to 
foreign peril 



Positive 
reform 



To secure this union, the Committee had used terrible means. 
Early in September of 1793 it adopted "Terror" as a dehberate 
policy. This "Long Terror" was a very different thing from 
the "Short Terror" of the mob, a year before. The Paris pris- 
ons were crowded again with "Suspects"; and each day the 
Revolutionary tribunal, after farcical trials, sent batches of 
them to the guillotine. ^ Among the victims were the queen, 
many aristocrats, and also many Constitutionalists and Gi- 
rondists — heroes of 1791 and 1792. In some of the revolted 
districts, too, submission was followed by horrible executions; 
and at Nantes the cruelty of Carrier, the Deputy on Mission, 
half-crazed with blood, inflicted upon the Revolution an indelible 
stain. Over much of France, to be sure, the Terror was only a 
name, and the rule of the Deputies on Mission was supported 
ardently by the people. Still, in all, some fifteen thousand 
executions took place during the fourteen months of the Terror 
— one of many horrible blots on human history. 

At the same time, this bloodshed is not the significant thing 
about the Revolution. Indeed it was not the product of the 
Revolution itself, but of foreign war. Literature has been filled 
with hysterics about it. It is well for us to shudder — but there 
is no danger that we shall not, for those who suffered were the 
few who "knew how to shriek." The danger is that we forget 
the relief to the dumb multitudes who had endured worse tortures 
for centuries. And if the Convention destroyed much, it built 
up vastly more. The grim, silent, tense-browed men of the 
Committee worked eighteen hours out of every twenty-four. 
Daily, they carried theii* lives in their hands ; and so they worked 
swiftly and ruthlessly. But while Carnot, "Organizer of Vic- 
tory," was creating the splendid army that saved liberty from 
despots, his associates were laying the foundations for a new 
and better society. Mainly on their proposals, the Convention 
made satisfactory provision for the public debt that had crushed 
the old monarchy. It adopted the beginning of a simple and 

1 Just before the Revolution a humane Ur. Guillotin had invented a new 
device to behead criminals — a heavy knife sliding down swiftly between 
upright supports. This "guillotine" was much more merciful than the 
older practice of beheading with an ax in a headsman's hands. 



THE REIGN OF TERROR 429 

just code of laws. It abolished imprisonment for debt and gave 
property rights to women, forty years ahead of England or Amer- 
ica. It accepted the metric system of weights and measures, 
abolished slavery in French colonies, instituted the first Normal 
School, the Polytechnic School of France, the Conservatory of 
France, the famous Institute of France, and the National Li- 
brary, and planned also a comprehensive system of public in- 
struction,^ the improvement of the hospitals and of the prisons, 
and the reform of youthful criminals. 

But now the Jacobins broke into factions. 

1. The Paris Commune closed all ('hristian worship in the Jacobin 
capital, substituting a ribald "worship of reason." These ex- devour one 
tremists were led by the coarse Hebert, who clamored for more another 
blood — wholesale execution of all defenders of private prop- 
erty. Robespierre denounced Hebert — who then tried once 

more to raise the Paris mob against the Assembly. This time the 
Assembl}^ won ; and Robespierre sent Hebert and his friends 
to the guillotine (March, 1794). 

2. At the other extreme, Danton had been urging for months 
that the Terror was no longer needed in a victorious and 
tranquil France. In April, Robespierre accused him of con- 
spiracy and sent him to the guillotine. 

For the next three months, Robespierre seemed sole master. 
He reopened the churches, and offset Hebert' s Festival to Reason 
by making the Convention celebrate a solemn "Festival to the 
Supreme Being." ^ 

Then he hurried his plans to create a new France — which he Robes- 
imagined could be done quicklv by education. "We must en- Pierre's 

• 1 PI- " • 1 IP )> • 1 1 • dictatorship 

tirely reiashion a people whom we wish to make tree, said his 

decree, — "destroy its prejudices, alter its habits, root up its 
vices, purify its desires. The state, therefore, must lay hold of 
every human being at its birth and direct its education with 
powerful hand." One of his ardent disciples exclaimed that he 

1 Said Danton, " Next to bread, education is the first need of the people." 
- Robespierre was not a Christian, but a deist, like Voltaire : that is, he 
believed in an all-good creator revealed in nature. 



430 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 



would blow out his own brains at once if he did not believe it pos- 
sible by "a school of the nation" to remodel the French people 
so that it should possess " the happiness of virtue, of moderation, 
of comfort — the happiness that springs from the enjoyment of 
the necessary without the superfluous. . . . The luxury of a 
cabin and of a field tilled by your own hands, a cart, a thatched 
roof, — such is happiness." 
And his fall To clear the ground for putting these fine theories into prac- 
tice, Robespierre intensified the Terror, until the number of 
executions rose to two hundred a week in Paris. Leaders in the 
Convention trembled for their own safety, and at last they 
turned savagely upon the monster. On July 27, 1794, when 
Robespierre rose to speak, he was greeted by cries of "Down 
with the tyrant !" Astounded, he stammered confusedly; and 
a delegate cried, — " See, the blood of Danton chokes him ! " 
Quickly he was tried and guillotined, with a hundred adherents. 



The 

Directory, 
1 795 -1 799 



" A whifif of 
grapeshot " 



The Terror now ended, and in the following March (1795) the 
survivors of the delegates expelled two years before were re- 
admitted to the Convention. The populace was disarmed, and 
the National Guards were reorganized, to consist again of the 
propertied classes only. The restored middle-class supremacy 
was then confirmed by a new "Constitution of the Year IIL" 
The government so established is called The Directory. This 
was the name of the new executive of the Republic, — a com- 
mittee of five, chosen by the legislature. The legislature became 
a two-house body, elected by voters with property qualifica- 
tions. 

A popular vote ratified this constitution ; but, at the last mo- 
ment, the expiring Convention decreed that its members should 
sit in the new legislature without submitting to reelection. Se- 
cret royalists took advantage of this unpopular act to stir up 
the Paris mob against the government, and the revolt was 
joined even by 20,000 National Guards. The Directory was 
in panic. But it had four thousand regular troops, and it hap- 
pened to hit upon a brilliant young officer to command them. 
That officer posted cannon about the approaches to the Conven- 



ROBESPIERRE'S RULE AND FALL 431 

tion hall, and mowed down the attacking columns with "a 
whiff of grapeshot" (October 5, 1795). 

The Directory remained in power four years more ; but the 
chief interest for this period centers in the rise of the officer who 
had saved it, — and whose name was Napoleon Bonaparte. 

Exercise. — Discuss parallels and contrasts between the course of 
the French Revolution and that of the Russian Revolution of 1917. 
Do you recall any event in English history similar to the self-perpetu- 
ating act of the Convention at its close ? 



CHAPTER XLV 



BONAPARTE AND THE CONSULATE, 1795-1804 



Expansion 

before 

Bonaparte 



Bonaparte 
in Italy 



France had already made great gains of territory. On the 
northeast, Belgium had been annexed, with the vote of its people. 
Nice and Savoy, on the southeast, had been added, in Hke manner. 
The eastern frontier had been moved to the Rhine. Holland had 
been converted into a dependent ally as the " Batavian Repub- 
lic," with a constitution molded on that of France. Prussia, 
Spain, and most of the small states had withdrawn from the 
war. Only England, Austria, and Sardinia kept the field. 

The Directory determined to attack Austria vigorously. Two 
splendid armies were sent into Germany, and a small, ill-supplied 
force in Italy was put under the command of Bonaparte. The 
genius of the young general (then twenty-seven years old) made 
the Italian campaign the decisive factor in the war. By swift 
marches he separated his enemies, won battle after battle, and 
by July was master of Italy. During the next year four fresh 
Austrian armies, each larger than Bonaparte's, were sent across 
the Alps, only to meet destruction at his hands; and in 1797 
he dictated the Peace of Campo Formio, which for a time closed 
the war on the continent. 

To the Italians, Bonaparte posed at first as a deliverer, with 
magnificent promises of a free national life. He did sweep away 
serfdom, and, in place of old oligarchic states, set up some "re- 
publics"; but at the same time he perfidiously tricked the 
ancient state of Venice into war, and afterward coolly traded it 
away to Austria. Upon even the most friendly states, too, he 
levied huge contributions for the coffers of France and the 
private pockets of the Directory and to enrich his soldiers. 
Works of art, too, and choice manuscripts he ravished from Italian 
libraries and galleries, and sent to Paris, to gratify French vanity ; 
and when the Italians rose against this spoliation, he stamped 
out the revolts with deliberate " f rightfulness." 

432 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



433 



The Italian campaigns first showed Napoleon Bonaparte to Character of 



the world. He was an Italian, — born in Corsica in 1769. In 
that same year, Corsica became a possession of France. The 
boy passed through a French military school, and when the 
Revolution began he was a junior lieutenant of artillery. The 
war gave him opportunity. 
He had distinguished him- 
self at the capture of 
Toulon (p. 427) ; and his 
brilliant defense of the 
Directory against the 
rising of 1795 won him 
the command of the 
"Army of Italy." 

Bonaparte was one of 
the three or four supreme 
military geniuses of his- 
tory. He was also one oi 
the greatest of civil rulers. 
He had profound insight, 
a marvelous memory, and 
tireless energy. He was a 
"terrible worker," with 
wonderful grasp of details, 
— so that he could recall 
the smallest features of 
geography where a cam- 
paign was to take place, 
or could name the man 

best suited for office in any one of a multitude of obscure 
towns. He was not insensible to generous feeling; l)ut, like 
Frederick II of Prussia, he was utterly unscrupulous and deliber- 
ately rejected all claims of morality. "Morality," said he, 
"has nothing to do with such a man as I am." Perfidy and 
cruelty, when they suited his ends, he used as calmly as appeals 
to honor and patriotism. 

His generalship lay largely in unprecedented rapidity of move- 



Napoleon 
Bonaparte 




Bonaparte at Akcola. — The French 
troops were breaking at a critical point, 
when the young general forced his way 
to the front, caught a falling standard, 
and by his presence, restored the for- 
tune of the day. After the painting 
by Gros. 



434 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



ment, and in massing his troops against some one weak point of 
an enemy. "Our general," said his soldiers, "wins his victories 
with our legs." In early life he may have been a sincere re- 
publican ; but he hated anarchy and disorder, and, before his 
campaign in Italy was over, he had begun to plan to make him- 
self ruler of France. He worked systematically to transform 
the French people's earlier ardor for liberty into a passion for 
military glory and plunder. 



Bonaparte 
in Egypt 



Escape to 
France 



England alone continued the war against France ; and in 
1798 Bonaparte persuaded the Directory to let him attack 

Egypt, as a step toward 
attacking England in 
India. He won a series 
of brilliant battles in 
Egypt ; but suddenly his 
fleet was annihilated by 
the English under Xclson, 
in the Battle of the Nile, 
and his gorgeous dreams 
of Oriental empire faded 
away. 

Without hesitation 
Bonaparte deserted his 
doomed army, and es- 
caped to France, where 
he saw new opportuni- 
ties. ^Yar on the con- 
tinent had been renewed. 
In 1798 England had 
succeeded in drawing 
Russia and Austria into 
another coalition ; and 
so far, in the new war, the campaigns had gone against France. 
Bonaparte's failure in distant Egypt was not comprehended, 
and the French people welcomed him as a savior. 

Moreover, the Directory had proven disgracefully corrupt. 




Bonaparte Dissolves the French As- 
sembly. — From a contemporary print. 



THE CONSULATE 435 

Each of three years in succession — 1797, 1798, 1799 — the 

elections had gone against it ; but it had kept itself in power 

by a series of coups d'etat, or arbitrary interferences with the 

result of the voting. Now Bonaparte used a coup d'etat ^ against 

it. His troops purged the legislature of members hostile to 

his plan ; and a Rump, made up of Bonaparte's adherents, abol- Overthrow 

ished the Directory and elected Bonaparte and two others as ^J^^^ ^ 

consuls, intrusting to them the preparation of a new consti- Bonaparte, 

tution. "Now," said the peasantry, "we shall have peace, ^^^^* Consul 

thanks to God and to Bonaparte"; and by a vote of some 

three million to fifteen hundred, the French people accepted 

the constitution that virtually made Bonaparte dictator. 

Bonaparte's first work as consul was to crush foreign foes. 
In 1800 he won a dazzling victory over the Austrians at Marengo 
in Italy, and General Moreau crushed another Austrian army 
at Ilohenlinden in Bavaria. One by one the allies laid down 
their arms, and in 1802 the Peace of Amiens won peace even 
from England — which had been in arms against France since 
1793. 

By the "Constitution of the Year VIII" (1800) Napoleon, as Centraliza- 
First Consul, was really a dictator. The legislature was little ^^°J mtensi- 
more than a debating society, and could not even propose a law 
without his consent. The government was said to " rest on man- 
hood suffrage," but only as "refined by successive filtrations." 
The 5,000,000 adult male citizens chose 500,000 "Communal 
Notables"; these chose 50,000 "Departmental Notables"; 
and these chose 5000 "National Notables." But all these 
elections elected nobody. The executive was to appoint com- 
munal officers from the 500,000, departmental officers from the 
50,000, and members of the legislature from the 5000. 

Thus local administration was once more highly centralized, 

1 Literally, a "stroke of state." This is the name given in France to in- 
fractions of the constitution by some part of the government through the 
use of force. Happily the thing itself has been so unknown to English his- 
tory that the English language has to borrow the French name. The at- 
tempt of Charles I to seize the five members (p. 376) was something of the 
sort. The coming century was to see many a coup d'etat in France ; and 
like phenomena have been common in other European countries. 



436 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



Restoration 
of order 



Reforms 



The " Code 
Napoleon " 



SO that, independent of Bonaparte's will, there did not exist 
anywhere the authority to light or repair the streets of the 
meanest village.^ 

Within France Bonaparte used his vast authority to restore 
order and heal strife. Royalist and Jacobin were welcomed to 
public employment and to favor ; and a hundred and fifty thou- 
sand exiles, of the best blood and brain of France, returned, 
to reinforce the citizen body. Wages rose ; the French people 
built up a vast material prosperity ; and the burden of taxes 
was distributed with fair justice upon all classes. Political 
liberty was gone ; but the economic gains of the Revolution 
were preserved. An agreement with the pope ("the Concor- 
dat") reconciled the Catholic church to the state. All bishops 
were replaced by new ones appointed by Napoleon and conse- 
crated by the pope. The church became Roman again, but 
it was supported and controlled by the state. The reform 
work of the great Convention of '93 had been dropped by the 
Directory. Some parts of it were now taken up again. Public 
education was organized (on paper) ; corruption and extrav- 
agance in the government gave way to order and efficiency; 
law was simplified, and justice was made cheaper and easier 
to secure. 

This last work was the most enduring and beneficent of all. 
The Convention of '93 had begun to reform the outgrown ab- 
surdities of the confused mass of French laws. The First Con- 
sul now completed the task. A commission of great lawyers, 
working under his direction and inspiration, swiftly reduced 
the vast chaos of old laws to a marvelously compact, simple, 
symmetrical code. This body of law included the new prin- 
ciples of equality born of the Revolution. It soon became the 
basis of law for practically all Europe, except England, Russia, 
and Turkey. From Spain it spread to all Spanish America, 
and it lies at the foundation of the law of the State of Louisiana. 



1 This new adnainistration was vigorous and fearless ; and under Na- 
poleon's energy and genius, it conferred upon France great and rapid benefits. 
But, in the long run, the result was to be unspeakably disastrous. The chance 
for Frenchmen to train themselves at their own gates in the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of freemen, by sharing in the local government, was lost. 



THE CONSULATE 437 

Napoleon himself declared, after his overthrow, "Waterloo 
will wipe out the memory of my forty victories ; but that which 
nothing can wipe away is my Civil Code. That will live for- 
ever." 

In all this reconstruction, the controlling mind was that of The last of 

the First Consul. Functionaries worked as they had worked l^^ benevo- 
lent despots 
for no other master. Bonaparte knew how to set every man 

the right task ; and his own matchless activity (he sometimes 
worked twenty hours a day) made it possible for him to over- 
see countless designs. His penetrating intelligence seized the 
essential point of every problem, and his indomitable will drove 
through all obstacles to a quick and effective solution. His 
ardor, his ambition for France and for glory, his passion for 
good work, his contempt for difficulties, inspired every official, 
until, as one of them said, " the gigantic entered into our habit 
of thought." 



CHAPTER XLVI 



" Emperor 
Napoleon 
the First " 



Plebiscites 



System of 
spies 



Free speech 
suppressed 



NAPOLEON AND THE EMPIRE, 1804-1814 

Soon Bonaparte made it clear that he meant to seize the 
trappings of monarchy as well as its power. In 1802 he had 
himself elected "Consul for Life." He set up a court, with 
all the forms of monarchy, and began to sign papers by his first 
name only — Napoleon — as kings sign. Then, in 1804, he 
obtained another vote of the nation declaring him "Emperor 
of the French," and he solemnly crowned himself at Paris, 
with the presence and sanction of the pope, as the successor of 
Charlemagne. 

Napoleon always claimed that he ruled by the "will of the 
French people"; and each assumption of power was given a 
show of ratification by a popular vote, or plebiscite. But the 
plebiscite was merely the nation's Yes or No to a question 
framed by the master. The nation had no share at any stage in 
shaping the qnestions upon which it was to tote; and even the vote 
was controlled largely by skillful coercion. A plebiscite was 
a thin veil for military despotism. At the same time, it must 
be acknowledged that the French people tamely surrendered 
to a despotic master who flattered their vanity and fed their 
material prosperity. 

Individuals who resisted found themselves subject to a 
tyranny worse than that of the old monarchy. Napoleon 
maintained a vast network of secret police and spies, and in ten 
years he sent thirty-six hundred men to prison or into exile by 
his mere order. No book could be published if it contained 
opinions offensive to the emperor. Newspapers were forbidden 
to print anything "contrary to the duties of subjects": they 
were required to omit all news " disadvantageous or disagreeable 
to France," and in political matters they were allowed to pub- 
lish only such items as were furnished them by the government. 

438 



wars 



NEW EUROPEAN WARS 439 

Even the schools were made to preach despotism, and were com- 
manded to "take as the basis of their instruction fideUty to 
the Emperor." Religion, too, was pressed into service. An 
Imperial Catechism was devised, and used in all schools, ex- 
pressly to teach the duty of all good Christians to obey the 
Emperor.^ 

In 1802 Napoleon told his Council of State that he should The " Na- 
welcome war and that he expected it. Europe, he declared, 
needed a single head, an emperor, to distribute the various king- 
doms among lieutenants. He felt, too, that victories and mili- 
tary glory were needful to prevent the French nation from mur- 
muring against his despotism. Naturally, other nations felt 
that there could be no lasting peace with Napoleon except on 
terms of absolute submission. Under such conditions as these, 
war soon broke out afresh. England and France came to blows 
again in 1803, and there was to be no more truce between them 
until Napoleon's fall. During the next eleven years. Napoleon 
fought also three wars with Austria, two with Prussia, two with 
Russia, a long war with Spain, and various minor conflicts. 

The European wars from 1792 to 1802 belong to the period 
of the French Revolution proper. Those from 1803 to 1815 
are "Napoleonic wars," due primarily to the ambition of one 
great military genius. In the first series, Austria was the chief 
opponent of the Revolution : in the second series, England was 
the relentless foe of Napoleon. 

On the breaking out of war with England, Napoleon prepared 
a mighty flotilla and a magnificent army at Boulogne. Eng- 
land was threatened with overwhelming invasion if she should 
lose command of the Channel even for a few hours ; but all 
Napoleon's attempts to get together a fleet to compete with 
England's failed. 

In 1805 Austria and Russia joined England in the war. With 

immediate decision. Napoleon transferred his forces from the 

Channel to the Danube, annihilated two great armies, at Ulm 

and Austerlitz, and, entering Vienna as a conqueror, forced 

^ Extracts are given in Anderson's Documents, No. 65. 



440 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 



Peace of 
Tilsit 



Austria to a humiliating peace. Prussia had maintained her 
neutraHty for eleven years ; but now, with his hands free, Na- 
poleon goaded her into war, crushed her absolutely at Jena 
(October, 1806), occupied Berlin, and soon afterward dictated 
a peace that reduced Prussia one half in size and bound her to 
France as a vassal state. 

Less decisive conflicts with Russia were followed by the Peace 
of Tilsit (July, 1807). The Russian and French emperors met 
in a long interview, and Tsar Alexander was so impressed by 







Siilwilt©' i 



The Vendome Column — made from Russian and Austrian cannon cap- 
tured in the Austerlitz campaign. The figures on the spirals represent 
scenes in that campaign, and upon the summit, 142 feet high, stands a 
statue of Napoleon. The name Vendome comes from the name of the 
public square. Napoleoa, like the later HohenzoUerns, was fond of imi- 
tating the memorial works of the Roman world-empire. 



Trafalgar 



Napoleon's genius, that, from an enemy, he became a friend 
and ally. France, it was understood, was to rule Western 
Europe ; Russia might aggrandize herself in the Eastern half 
at the expense of Sweden and Turkey ; and the two Powers were 
to unite in ruining England by shutting out her commerce from 
the continent. 

England had proved as supreme on the seas as Napoleon on 
land. In 1805, at Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain, Nelson 



THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 441 

destroyed the last great fleet that Napoleon collected. 
Soon afterward a secret article in the Treaty of Tilsit 
agreed that Denmark (then a considerable naval power) 
should be made to add her fleet to the French; but the 
English government struck flrst. It demanded the surrender 
of the Danish fleet into English hands until the w^ar should 
close, and finally it compelled the delivery by bombarding 
Copenhagen. 

After this, Napoleon could not strike at England with his Napoleon's 
armies, and he fell back upon an attempt to ruin ter by crushing tai^gystem " 
her commerce. All the ports of the continent were to be closed 
to her goods, and Napoleon stirred French scientists into des- 
perate efforts to invent substitutes for the goods shut out of the 
continent. (One valuable result followed. The English cruisers 
prevented the importation into France of West-India cane 
sugar ; but it was discovered that sugar could be made from the 
beet, and the raising of the sugar-beet became a leading in- 
dustry in France.) 

This "Continental System" did inflict damage upon Eng- 
land, but it carried greater harm to the continent, which simply 
could not do without the manufactures of England, then the 
workshop of Europe. At times, even the French armies had 
to be clothed in smuggled English goods, and they marched into 
Russia in 1812 (p. 446) in English shoes. 

England's retort to the Continental System was an attempt " War of 
to blockade the coast of France and her dependencies to all 
neutral vessels. In these war measures, both France and Eng- 
land ignored the rights of neutral states. One result was the 
War of 1812 in America. In this struggle, unhappily, w^e let 
ourselves be drawn into fighting upon the side of the European 
despot, against the only champion of freedom, and upon the 
w^hole, into fighting that power which w^e had least reason to 
fight.^ Happily, in that day, America's part could not be 
decisive, and the contest did not much affect the European 
result. 

1 As if, in 1914-1918, we had let Germany draw us to her side, as she 
hoped, because the English blockade of Germany hurt our commerce. 



i8i2 " in 
America 



442 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 



Napoleon 
and the 
Spanish 
people 



Napoleon 

after 

Wagram 



Napoleon's 
new map of 
Europe 



Portugal refused to obey Napoleon's order to confiscate the 
English vessels in her ports. Thereupon Napoleon's armies 
occupied the kingdom. From this act, Napoleon passed to the 
seizure of Spain, placing his brother Joseph upon the throne. 
But the proud and patriotic Spanish people rose in a " War for 
Liberation." England seized her opportunity, and sent an army 
under Wellesley (afterward Duke of Wellington) to support 

this "Peninsular revolt." 
To the end, this struggle 
continued to drain Napo- 
leon 's resources. Long 
after, at St. Helena, he 
declared that it was really 
the Spanish war that 
ruined him. 

In 1809, encouraged by 
the Spanish rising, Aus- 
tria once more entered the 
lists, but a defeat at Wa- 
gram forced her again to 
submission. Napoleon 
now married a princess of 
Austria. He was anxious 
for an heir, and so divorced 
his former wife, Josephine, 
who had borne him no 
children, to make way for marriage with a grandniece of Marie 
Antoinette. This union of the Revolutionary emperor with the 
proud Hapsburg house marks in some respects the summit of 
his power. 

At the moment, the Spanish campaigns seemed trivial; 
and after Wagram, Napoleon was supreme in Central Europe. 
This period w^as marked by sweeping changes in territory. The 
most important may be grouped under four heads. 

1. The Batavian Republic (p. 432) was converted into the 
Kingdom of Holland, with Napoleon's brother Louis for its 




Napoleon in IMl. 



Ki: 



EKi 



AFTEB 1550 

SCALE OF MILES 

III I 1 

10 20 4U 60 



.;^' 



^l 







KoU»T(._ 




East \ 
"^Friisland Cf 

Lroninijen >' ' T^^" 

" • ^ i jJ. Oldenburci 



, Ktovordei** 




^^t; o u n t y. 

/ ^I'rakenburtr' 

pholzf' Hoya 



^venter / ^.-y V O. r ";fe"^'' \}fiiude^^ 

— >,\^ Minister i (^ \ .- \ ^-•.. 

. ^ , "bishopric 
iderborn,' 



i-dtr-^^^ 



', qV^^ ' ■ ^'iiii,.,-.! -v^^_.' ,-' \ of/ Hes 



« Can 



Valenci 




"N 



Amiens 



''A-Qufntin 






Cl-' 



.' Coblenzj 




rrc 



VfH^Xt 



A'n'tsaii 









^ ^'^^ 



18- 



XEFERENPE 

^* Boundary of Empire 

Hapaburg Territories 

Ecclesiastical Territories 

O 

Imperial Cities 



s V , 




a 



ant. M^TtS, ENSa., N.Y. 




;<<I- 



5 m 



/6>V- 



St.Gt 




Longitude 



Glaniso 



East 8 from 




52 



50 



18 



^ri \ Tyrol o B"^^?i^;\ ,, (jv^5') ^--r:-r:' \.^^ 



THE NEW MAP OF EUROPE 443 

sovereign. Later, when Louis refused to ruin his people by en- 
forcing the Continental System rigidly, Napoleon deposed 
him, and annexed Holland to France, along with the whole north 
coast of Germany as far as Denmark. 

2. In Italy the new republics and the old petty states were 
disposed of, one after another. Even the pope was deprived of 
his principality. When these changes were complete, Italy 
lay in three fairly equal divisions. In the south Napoleon's 
brother, Joseph, ruled as King of Naples ; and when Joseph was 
promoted in 1809 to the throne of Spain, he was succeeded in 
Naples by Murat, one of Napoleon's generals. In the northeast 
was the "Kingdom of Italy," with Napoleon himself as king — • 
as Charlemagne and Otto and their successors had been "kings 
of Italy" ! The rest of the peninsida icas made a part of France, 
and was organized as a French Department. 

3. The Illyrian provinces on the eastern coast of the Adriatic 
were annexed directly to France. 

4. Most important of all were the changes in Germany. To 
comprehend the significance of Napoleon's work there, one 

must first grasp the bewildering conditions before his inter- Germany 
ference. Until Napoleon, there ivas no true political Germany. Napoleon 
The Holy Roman Empire was made up of : 

(1) Two "great states," Austria and Prussia, each of them 
half Slavonic in blood ; (2) some thirty states of the " second 
rank," like Bavaria ; (3) about two hundred and fifty petty 
states of the "third order" (many of them under bishops or 
archbishops), ranging in size from a small duchy to a large farm, 
but averaging a few thousand inhabitants ; (4) some fifteen 
hundred "knights of the empire," who in England would have 
been country squires, but who in Germany were really in- 
dependent monarchs, with an average territory of three square 
miles, and some three hundred subjects apiece, over whom they 
held power of life and death; and (5) about fifty-six "free 
cities," all in misrule, governed by narrow aristocracies. 

Each of the two himdred and fifty states of the "third rank," 
like the larger ones, was aji absolute monarchy, with its own laws, 
its own mimic court and army, its own coinage, and its crowd 



444 



NAPOLEON EMPEROR 



Napoleon's 
beginnings 
of consolida- 
tion 



End of the 
Holy 
Roman 
Empire 



of pedantic officials. The "Sovereign Count" of Leimburg- 
Styrum-Wilhelmsdorf kept a standing army of one colonel, nine 
lower officers, and two privates ! Each of the fifteen hundred 
"'knights" had his own system of tariffs and taxes. 

Moreover, many a state of the second or third order consisted 
of several fragments ^ (obtained by accidents of marriage or war), 
sometimes widely scattered, — some of them perhaps wholly in- 
side a larger state to which politically they had no relation. 
No map can do justice to the quaint confusion of this region, 
about the size of Texas, thus broken into eighteen hundred gov- 
ernments varying from an empire to a small estate, and scattered 
in fragments within fragments. (Map after p. 314.) 

Napoleon reduced Austria to an inland state, and halved 
Prussia, thrusting it east of the Elbe, and, further, turning 
its recent Polish acquisitions into a new Duchy of War- 
saw. As another check upon the two leading states. Napoleon 
augmented the states of the second rank, raising several into 
kingdoms. And, from a general hatred for disorder and anarchy, 
he encouraged all these states to absorb the ecclesiastical realms 
and the territories of the knights and of the petty principalities 
within or adjoining their borders, along with nearly all the "free 
cities." Thus the "political crazy quilt" of eighteen hundred 
states was simplified to thirty-eight states. (This tremendous 
consolidation, surviving the rearrangements after Napoleon's 
fall, paved the way for later German unity.) 

Nearly all these German states, except Austria and Prussia, 
were leagued in the "Confederation of the Rhine," under Na- 
poleon as "Protector." This amounted to a dissolution of the 
Holy Roman Empire, and in 1806 Francis II laid down that 
venerable title. Napoleon himself posed as the successor of 
the Roman emperors. Francis was allowed to console himself 
with the title "Emperor of Austria," for his hereditary realms, 
instead of his previous title there, "Arch-Duke of Austria." 



Social re- 
form in 
Germany 



Napoleon's influence, too, began great social reforms in Ger- 
many. In the Confederation of the Rhine and in many.kingdonis 
^ As indicated by such compound names as the one above. 



THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 445 

of Napoleon's })rothers and generals, serfdom and feudalism 
were al)olished, and civil equality and the "Code Napoleon" 
were introduced. Everywhere, too, the administration of 
justice was made cheap and simple, and the old clumsy and 
corrupt methods of government gave way to efficiency. 

Most striking of all was the reform in Prussia. In that state, Stein in 
reform came from a Prussian minister, and was adopted in order ^"^sia 
to make Prussia strong enough to cast off the French yoke. 
Jena had proved that the old Prussian system was utterly rotten. 
The guiding spirit in a new Prussian ministry was Stein, who 
labored to fit Prussia for leadership in freeing and regenerating 
Germany. The serfs were changed into free peasant-land- 
owners : the caste distinctions in society were broken down : 
some self-government w as granted to the towns ; and many 
of the best principles of the French reforms were adopted. 
Napoleon's insolence and the domination of the French , 
armies at last had forced part of Germany into the beginning 
of a new national patriotism; and that patriotism began 
to arm itself by borrowing w^eapons from the arsenal of the 
French Revolution. 

In 1810 Napoleon 's power had reached its widest limits. The Greatest 
huge bulk of France filled the space from the Ocean to the Rhine, Napoleon's 
including not only the France we know, but also Belgium, half sway 
of Switzerland, and large strips of German territory, — while 
from this central body two outward-curving arms reached to- 
ward the east, one along the North Sea to the Danish Peninsula, 
and the other down the coast of Italy past Rome. 

This vast territory was all organized in Fre7ich Departments. 
The rest of Italy and half the rest of Germany were under 
Napoleon's "protection," and w^ere ruled by his appointees. 
Denmark and Switzerland, too, were his dependent allies ; and 
Prussia and Austria were unwilling ones. Only the extremities 
of the continent kept their independence, and even there, 
Sweden and Russia were his friends. 

But Russia ivas growing hostile. Alexander was offended by 
the partial restoration of Poland (as the Duchy of Warsaw). 



446 



THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 



The " Re- 
treat from 
Moscow " 



Battle of 
Leipzig 



The Continental System, too, was growing more and more bur- 
densome. Russia needed English markets, and in 1811 the 
Tsar refused longer to enforce the "System." 

Napoleon at once declared war. In 1812 he invaded Russia 
and penetrated to Moscow. The Russians set fire to the city, 
so that it should not afford him winter quarters ; but, with rare 
indecision, he stayed there five weeks, hoping in vain that the 
Tsar would offer to submit. Then, too late, in the middle of 




Rising of the Pia .-.:.-.:,.- .voaixst Xavull-us is Ibi'-S. — The people 
were often rallied by their pastors, as represented here by the Prussian | 
artist, Arthur Karapf. 

October, when the Russian winter was already upon them, the 
French began the terrible "Retreat from Moscow," fighting 
desperately each foot of the way against cold, starvation, and 
clouds of Cossack cavalry. Nine weeks later, twenty thousand 
miserable scarecrows recrossed the Niemen. The "Grand 
Army," a half million strong, had left its bones among Russian 
snows. ; 

The Russians kept up the pursuit into Germany, and the 
enthusiasm of the Prussian people forced its government to 
declare against Napoleon. University professors enlisted at 
the head of companies of their students in a " war of liberation." 



■"... *^ y^^^M'iy 



> 

X 
H 




i 






P 



i' 1 



g^ 



NAPOLEON'S OVERTHROW 447 

Women gave their jewels and even their hair, to buy arms and 
supplies. The next summer, Austria also took up arms. By 
tremendous efforts, Napoleon raised a new army of boys and old 
men from exhausted France, and for a time he kept the field 
victoriously in Germany ; but in October, 1813, he met crushing 
defeat at Leipzig, in the " Battle of the Nations." 

Napoleon retreated across the Rhine. His vassal kings fled Fall of 
from their thrones, and most of the small states now joined his ^^° ^°" 
enemies. England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, acting in close 
concert, took to themselves the name "The Allies." They now 
offered to leave Napoleon his crown, with the Rhine for the 
boundary of France. When these terms were haughtily refused, 
the Allies invaded France at several points, and, in spite of 
Napoleon's superb defense, they entered Paris victoriously in 
March, 1814, and dictated peace. 

Napoleon was given a large allowance, and granted the island 
of Elba, in the Mediterranean, as an independent principality. 
The Bourbon heir to the French throne, one of the Emigrant 
brothers of Louis XVI, appeared, promised a constitution to 
France, and was quietly recognized by the French Senate as 
Louis XVII L^ To make this arrangement popular, the Allies 
granted liberal terms of peace. France kept her territory as it 
was before the Revolution. The Allies withdrew their ar- 
mies without imposing any war indemnity, such as France had 
exacted repeatedly from other countries ; nor did they even 
take back the works of art that French armies had plundered 
from so many famous galleries in Europe. 

For Further Reading. — The best brief accounts are Stephens' 
Revolutionary Europe, 1789-1815, Rose's Revolutionary and Napoleonic 
Era, and Rose's Napoleon the First. Anderson's Constitutions and Docu- 
ments has an admirable selection of source material. 

1 The son of Louis XVI had died in prison at Paris in 1795. According 
to the theory that he began to reign upon his father's death in 1793, he is 
known as Louis XVII. 



PAET XI - REACTION, 1815-1848 



Political 
chaos in 
Europe 



The Con- 
gress of 
Vienna 



CHAPTER XLVII 

REACTION IN THE SADDLE, 1815-1820 

I. THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA 

Napoleon had wiped away the old map of Europe, and now 
his map fell to pieces. All the districts which had been annexed 
to France since 1792, and all the states which had been created 
by Napoleon, were left without governments. The old rulers 
of these states were clamorinc^ for restoration. Other rulers 
wanted new acquisitions to pay for their exertions against Na- 
poleon. There was also a fear per\'ading Europe that from 
France either new and dangerous "Revolutionary" ideas or 
a new military conqueror might overrun the world. To settle 
these problems — to arrange for "restoration," "reparation," 
and "guarantees" — the four "Allies" invited all the sover- 
eigns of Europe to a " Peace Congress." 

The Congress of Vienna assembled in November, 1814. The 
crowd of smaller monarchs and princes were entertained by 
their Austrian host in a constant round of masques and revels, 
while the four great Allies (Russia, Austria, Prussia, England) 
did the work in private committee. From time to time, as 
they reached agreements, they announced results to the Con- 
gress for public ratification. 

The territorial rearrangements fall under three heads. 

1. Italy ivas left in twelve states, and Germany in thirty -eight. 
These were all restored to their old ruling families. (The other 
phases of the "restoration" can be treated most conveniently 

in the next chapter.) 

448 



> 
X 
X 




9 
3 

o 
O 

a 

a 
H 



CONGRESS OF VIENNA 449 

2. The states along the French frontier icere strengthened, as one Territorial 
"guarantee'' against future aggression by France. (1) Holland ^ents"^^ 
was made into the Kingdom of the Netherlands, under the House " restora- 
of Orange, and Belgium was added to it, although the Belgians *^°^^ 
wished to be independent and objected very strongly to being ag^ins" ^^ 
made Dutch. (2) Nice and Savoy were given back to the King- French 
dom of Sardinia,^ to which was added also the old Republic of 
Genoa. (3) German territory west of the Rhine, now taken 

back from France, was divided between Prussia and Bavaria. 
(4) The Congress guaranteed the "neutrality" of Switzerland, 
promising that all woidd join in punishing any country which 
in future wars should march troops through that state. Thus 
the entire European frontier next France from the North Sea 
to the Mediterranean, was powerfully guarded. 

3. The remaining rearrangements had to do, directly or in- 
directly, with " comjjeiisating" the Allies for their exertions and 
losses. Under cover of high-sounding phrases about founding 
"a durable peace based upon a just division of power," the 
Congress became "a Congress for loot" and began a disgraceful 
scramble for spoils. 

(1) England had stood out alone for years against the whole Plunder for 
power of Napoleon, and she had incurred an enormous national *^® Allies 
debt by acting as paymaster of the various coalitions. In re- 
payment she now kept Malta, the Ionian Islands, Cape Colony, 
Ceylon, and a f%w other colonial acquisitions, mainly from the 

old Dutch empire, which she had occupied during the war. This 
left England the one great colonial power. Spain and Hol- 
land still had some possessions outside Europe ; but their hold- 
ings were insignificant beside England's. 

(2) Austria received back all her lost territory except distant 
Belgium, in place of which she accepted Venetia and Lombardy 
— much to the distaste of the inhabitants of those districts. 

(3) Alexander, Tsar of Russia, secured Finland from Sweden ; 

1 Sardinia had been part of the "Piedmont" ("Foot of the Mountain") 
state in North Italy. When Savoy, and the rest of that state upon the main- 
land, fell to France, Sardinia remained for a time the sole possession of the 
"House of Savoy," and afterward gave its name to the whole of the 
restored state. 



450 REACTION VICTORIOUS 

and he demanded also further reward in Poland. The Duchy 
of Warsaw (p. 444), he insisted, should be made into a kingdom 
of Poland, and he should be the king. But this plan conflicted 
with Prussian ambition. 

(4) Prussia gained Pomerania from Sweden ; but the Prus- 
sian king insisted also upon regaining the Polish provinces that 
Napoleon had taken from him for the Duchy of Warsaw. Alex- 
ander promised to aid Prussia to get Saxony instead. The 
king of Saxony had been a zealous ally of Napoleon to the last ; 
and so. Ale ander urged, it would be proper to make an exception 
in his case to the careful respect shown by the conquerors to 
all other " legitimate rulers." 
The Allies Prussia was ready to accept this ; but Austria feared such 

nearly fall extension of Prussia toward the heart of Germany, and vehe- 
mently opposed the plan. England took her side. Thus the 
four xVllies were divided, Russia and Prussia against Austria 
and England, and came to the verge of war with one another. 
Perhaps the most interesting result of this was the way in which 
France wormed her way hack into the European circle. The Allies 
had meant to give that "outlaw nation" no voice whatever 
at the peace table. But Talleyrand, the shrewd French diplo- 
mat, was present at Vienna as a looker-on ; and now, by offering 
French aid to Austria and England at a critical moment, he 
won a place for his country in the Congress. Finally a com- 
promise was made — the more readily that Napdfeon had broken 
loose. In addition to her gain of Pomerania, Prussia took half 
of Saxony and considerable German territory, recovered from 
France, icest of the Rhine. 

It should be noted that Sweden, which in the time of Peter 
the Great had surrounded the Baltic, had now retired wholly into 
the northern peninsula. There, however, she found some 
compensation. Denmark (which had been the ally of Na- 
poleon) now had to surrender Norioay, and this land the Congress 
of Vienna turned over to Sweden in return for Finland and 
Pomerania. How, out of this arrangement, the Norwegians 
won independence in a ninety years' struggle is told in a later 
chapter, — one of the finest stories of the nineteenth century. 



452 



REACTION VICTORIOUS 



A peace of 
kings, not 
of peoples 



(3) to restore the works of art which Napoleon's armies had 
plundered from European galleries. 

During the "Hundred Days," of Napoleon's rule, the Con- 
gress finished its work. That ''assemblage of princes and 
lackeys'' stood for reaction. As an English historian says, — 
"It complacently set to work to turn back the hands of time 
to the historic hour at which they stood before the Bastille fell." 
It represented kings, not peoples. All the republics which had 
appeared since the French Revolution, and also the old republics 
(the United Provinces, Venice, and Genoa), were given to 




Napoleon after Surrender. — Fearing that the other allies might take his 
life after Waterloo, he hastened to surrender to the British frigate Bellerophon. 

monarchs. " Republics," said the Austrian Metternich (p. 453), 
"seem to have gone out of fashion." Switzerland was the only 
republic left in Europe, — and it was given an inefficient, loose 
union, far less effective than it had enjoyed under Napoleon's 
supremacy. Peoples were never consulted. The Congress trans- 
ferred Belgians, Norwegians, Poles, Venetians, from freedom 
to a master, or from one master to another, — in every case 
against their fierce resentment. The next hundred years were 
to be busied very largely in undoing this work — until not one 
stone of the building was left upon another. 



THE RULE OF METTERNICH 453 

II. THE RULE OF METTERNICH 

For five years, reaction and despotism held the stage. In Absurdities 
man}' states, especially in the pettier ones, the restoration of the ^. oft^^^ 
old rulers was accompanied by ludicrous absurdities. The 1815 
princes who had scampered away before the French eagles 
came back to show that they had " learned nothing and forgotten 
nothing." They set out to ignore the past twenty years. In 
France a school history spoke of Austerlitz as " a victory gained 
by General Bonaparte, a lieutenant of the king"! The king 
of Sardinia restored serfdom. The Papal States and Spain 
again set up the Inquisition. In some places French plants 
were uprooted from the botanical gardens, and street lamps 
and vaccination were abolished because they were "French 
improvements." 

The statesmen of the Great Powers must have smiled to 
themselves at some of these extremes ; but they, too, almost 
universally strove to suppress progress. Five states — 
Russia, Austria, Prussia, France, and England — really deter- 
mined the policy of Europe. The first four were "divine right" 
monarchies. Louis XVIII gave France a limited Charter, but 
it carefully preserved the theory of divine right. That theory, 
of course, could have no place in England, where the monarchy 
rested on the Revolution of 1688 ; but even in England the 
Whigs were discredited, because they had sympathized at first 
with the French Revolution. For some years the government 
there was in the hands of the Tory party, which was bitterly 
opposed to progress. 

"The rule of Napoleon was succeeded by the rule of Met- Metternich, 

ternich" — the Austrian minister. Metternich was subtle, the evU 

]..,.. genius of 

adroit, mdustrious, witty, unscrupulous. His political creed the reaction 

he summed up thus : " Sovereigns alone are entitled to guide 

the destinies of their peoples, and they are responsible to none 

but God. . . . Government is no more a subject for debate 

than religion is." The "new ideas" of democracy and equality 

and nationality ^ ought never to have been allowed to get into 

^ The sentiment of nationality is the feeling among all the people of one 
ri.v.e, speech, and country that they should make one political state, or be- 



454 REACTION VICTORIOUS 

Europe, he said ; but, since they were in, the business of gov- 
ernments must be to keep them down. 

The Liberals of Europe had greeted Napoleon's overthrow 
with joyous acclaim ; but soon it seemed that Waterloo had 
simply "replaced one insolent giant by a swarm of swaggering 
pygmies." The Allied despots had roused the peoples, with 
promises of constitutions, to overthrow a rival despot, and then 
they betrayed the peoples and recalled their promises only as 
a jest. A few months after Waterloo, the English poet Byron 
lamented that " the chain of banded nations has been broke in 
vain by the accord of raised-up millions"; and, "standing on 
an Empire's dust" at the scene of the great battle, and noting 
"How that red rain has made the harvest grow," he mused : 

"Gaul may champ the bit and foam in fetters, 
But is Earth more free? 
Did nations combat to make one submit, 
Or league to teach all kings true sovereignty? . . . 
Then o'er one fallen despot boast no more." 

The Metternich's chief victory at the Congress of Vienna lay in 

Germanic ^^^^, ^^^,^^, organization of Germany. No one thought of restoring 
tion the discredited Holy Roman Empire. Liberal Germany, rep- 

resented by Stein (p. 445), had hoped for a real union, either 
in a consolidated German Empire or in a new federal state. 
But Metternich saw that in a true German empire, Austria (with 
her Slav, Hungarian, and Italian interests) could not long keep 
the lead against Prussia. He preferred to leave the various 
states practically independent, so that Austria, the largest of 
all, might play them off against one another. The small rulers, 
too, were hostile to a real union, because it would limit their 
sovereignties. Metternich allied himself, in the Congress, 
with these princes of the small states, and won. The thirty- 
eight German states were organized into a " Germanic Confeder- 
ation," a loose league of thirty-four sovereign princes and of the 
governments of the surviving "free cities," — -Hamburg, 

come a "nation." This feeUng tended to draw all Germans into one German 
state, and all Italians into one Italian state. In any conglomerate state, 
Hke Austria in that day, the feeling of nationality was likely to be a dis- 
rupting force. 



THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION 455 

Bremen, Liibeck, and Frankfort. Each state controlled its 
own government, its own army, its own tariffs, and its own 
foreign diplomacy, — although they did promise not to make 
war upon one another. The one organ of the Confederation 
was a Federal Diet at Frankfort. This was merely a standing 
conference of ambassadors appointed by the sovereigns : no im- 
portant action could be taken without the consent of r'rt-n/ state. 

But though the chance for making one German nation had a few con- 
been lost, the Liberals still hoped, for a time, for free political stitutions 
institutions in the separate states. Within the next four years, 
moderately liberal constitutions were granted in several states^ 
especially in South Germany, where the people had been greatly 
mfluenced by the French Revolution. Frederick William III 
of Prussia, also, appointed a committee to draw up the consti- 
tution that he had twice promised solemnly in the war of libera- 
tion. But he was a vacillating man, greatly influenced bv the 
nobles, who railed bitterly at the idea of free institutions ; and 
after the committee had dawdled along for four years, he repu- 
diated his pledge. 

Outside the Rhine districts the Liberals were made up of Disappoint- 
writers, journalists, students, professors, and a few others from °^^"t ^^^ 
the small educated middle class. In the universities, professors aSn 
and students organized societies (Burschenschaften) to agitate 
for German freedom and union. Some boyish demonstrations 
by such societies threw sober statesmen into spasms of fear, and 
seemed to them to prelude a revolutionary ^'Reign of Terror." 
Unhappily, Metternich's hand was strengthened also by the 
foohsh crimes of some Liberal enthusiasts. A small section of 
radical agitators preached that even assassination in the cause 
oi liberty was right ; and, in 1819, a fanatical student murdered 
Kotzebue a Russian representative in Germany, who was sup- 
posed to be drawing the Tsar away from his earlier liberal sym- 
pathies. 

Metternich was prompt to seize the chance. He at once called The Karls- 
the leading sovereigns of Germany to a conference at Karlsbad '"<' decrees 
1 here he secured their approval for a series of resolutions, which 
he afterward forced through the Diet at Frankfort These 



456 THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION 

Karlsbad Decrees of 1819 were especially directed against free 
speech in the press and in the universities. They forbade secret 
societies among students ; they appointed a government official 
in every university to discharge any professor who should preach 
doctrines "hostile to the public order"; they set up a rigid 
censorship of all printed matter ; they created a standing com- 
mittee to hunt down conspiracies ; and these despotic purposes 
were enforced for many years by the exile or cruel imprisonment 
of thousands of high-souled youths and gentle scholars, — for 
singing patriotic songs or for wearing black, red, and orange (the 
colors of the old Empire), which had become the symbol of 
German unity. ^ 

For Further Reading. — The most desirable general treatment of 
the nineteenth century for high schools is Hazen's Europe Since 1815. 
DupHcate copies of this work will be better than a multiplicity of refer- 
ences ; but students should have access also to Andrews' Modern 
Europe, Seignobos' Europe Since 1814, and Carlton Hayes' Modern 
Europe, II. 

Exercise. — Add to the list of dates 1776, 1789, 1815. 

1 These colors had been used as the flag of the patriotic uprising against 
Napoleon in 1814 ; but their use was now punished severely — even in such 
ingeniously evasive combinations as a black coat, a yellow (straw) hat, and 
a red vest ! 



CHAPTER XLVIII 

UNSUCCESSFUL REVOLUTIONS, 1820-1830 

T-he histonj of the nineteenth century is the history of the influences 
which the French Revolution left. — Frederic Harrison. 

No land touched by the French Revolution was ever again quite the same 

— l^REDERICK A. OgG. 

The first attacks upon Metternich's system came from the The 
south of Europe. The Spanish patriots who rose in 1808 Spanish 
against Napoleon (p. 442) found themselves without a govern- tionofTs^xV 
ment. Their king was in the hands of the French. The in- 
surgent leaders came largely from the small, educated middle 
class, who had been converted to the ideals of the early French 
Revolution. These leaders set up a representative assembly 
(the Cortes), and, in 1812, they adopted the liberal "Constitu- 
tion ot 1812" (modeled upon the French Constitution of 
1/91). 

Meantime, when Napoleon seized Spain, the Spanish Ameri- independ- 
can states refused to recognize his authority, and so became '»« °' 
virtually independent, under governments of their own. At l^t^ 
hrst, most of these new governments were in name loval to the 
Spanish crown. During the next few years, however, 'the Span- 
ish Americans experienced the benefits of freedom and of free 
trade with the world, and began to follow the example of the 
United States, which had so recently been merely a group of 
European colonies. By 1820, all the Spanish states on the con- 
tinent of America had become virtually independent nations. 

tuined to his throne. He had promised to maintain the new "^^^'^i- 
constitution ; but he soon broke his pledges, restored all the old "'"" 
imquities, and cruelly persecuted the Liberal heroes of the "war 
of liberation." I„ 1820 he collected troops to subdue the re- 

457 



458 REACTION AND REVOLUTION AFTER 1820 



The Spanish 
Revolution 
of 1820 



Revolution 
spreads 
through the 
south of 
Europe 



volted colonies ; but one of the regiments, instead of embarking, 
raised the standard of revolt and proclaimed the Constitution 
of 1812. Tumult followed in Madrid. The king, cowardly as 
he was treacherous, yielded, and restored the constitution. 

This Spanish Revolution of 1820 became the signal for like 
attempts in other states. Before the year closed, Portugal and 
Naples both forced their kings to grant constitutions modeled 
upon that of Spain. Early in the next year, the people and 
army of Piedmont rebelled, to secure a constitution for the 
Kingdom of Sardinia. Lombardy and Venetia stirred rest- 
lessly in the grasp of Austria. And the Greeks began a long 
struggle for independence against Turkey. 



Interven- 
tion by 
' the Holy 
Alliance 



England 
protests 



Spanish 
constitu- 
tionahsm 
crushed 



We have seen how Metternich used the Germanic Confeder- 
acy, designed for protection against foreign attack, to stifle 
liberalism in Germany. We are now to observe how he adroitly 
twisted an alliance of monarchs from its original purpose in order 
to crush these revolutions in Southern Europe. 

After Waterloo, while the four "Allies" were still in Paris 
(November 20, 1815), they agreed to preserve their union and 
to hold meetings from time to time. The purpose was to guard 
against any future aggression by France. But when the rev- 
olutions of 1820 began, Metternich assembled the absolute sov- 
ereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia in a "Congress" at 
Troppau, where they signed a declaration that they would unite 
to put down revolution against any established government. 
England protested, both before and after the meeting, de- 
claring that each nation should manage its internal affairs as 
it chose, and on this issue, she now withdrew from the alliance 
of 1815 — which from this time is known popularly as the Holy 
Alliance.^ 

Undaunted by England's opposition, the banded despots 
promptly marched overwhelming armies into Italy and restored 
absolutism in both Naples and Piedmont; and then, flushed 
with success, determined next to overthrow also the Spanish 



1 The confusion which explains this name is discussed in West's Modern 
Progress, 342. 



THE HOLY ALLIANCE 



459 



constitution, from which the "contagion of liberty" had spread. 
In 1822, at a Congress at Verona, they were joined by France. 
England again protested vigorously. The French representative 
tried to reconcile England by pleading that a constitution might 
be all very well in Spain, but that it should be a constitution 
granted by the king, not one 
forced upon him by rebels 
against his authority. Wel- 
lington, the English repre- 
sentative, Tory though he 
was, fitly answered this 
"divine right" plea: "Do 
you not know, sir, that it 
is not kings who make con- 
stitutions, but constitutions 
that make kings ! " 

But on land, England 
could do no more than 
protest, and, with the sanc- 
tion of the "crowned con- 
spirators of Verona," a 
French army restored the 
old absolutism in Spain. 
The "Holy Alliance" 
planned also to restore ^he Duke of Wellington. 

monarchic control in the revolted Spanish colonies. But here 
they failed. On the sea England wa& supreme ; and she made 
it known that she would oppose the intended expedition with 
all her great might. Once more, as in Napoleon's day and in 
Philip II's, the English sea power saved liberty. 

America shares in the credit of checking the despots. Can- 
ning, the English minister, urged the United States to join Eng- 
land in an alliance to protect Spanish America. The United 
States chose to act without formal alliance,^ but did act along 
the same lines. President Monroe's message to Congress in 
1823 announced to the world that this country would oppose any 
1 See West's American People, p. 425 ff. 




Spanish 

America 

saved by 

England 

and the 

Monroe 

Doctrine 



460 REACTION AND REVOLUTION AFTER 1820 



Greek inde- 
pendence 
secured 



Battle of 
Navarino 



attempt of the despotic Powers to extend their "political sys- 
tem" to America.^ 

Almost at once Metternich met another check, in the affairs 
of Greece. The rising there had been accompanied by terrible 
massacres of all Turks dwelling in the country, and the exasper- 
ated Turkish government was now putting dawn the rebellion 
by a war of extermination. For a time Metternich hoped to 
bring about intervention by the allied Powers to restore Turkish 
authority ; but he failed from two causes. 

1. The educated classes of Western Europe had been nourished 
mainly on the ancient Greek literature, and now their imagination 
was fired by the thought that this struggle against the Turks 
was a contest akin to the glorious ancient war against the Per- 
sians. The man who did most to widen this sympathy was 
Byron, the English poet, who closed a career of mingled genius 
and generosity and wrongdoing by a noble self-devotion, giving 
fortune and life to the Greek cause. Numbers of volunteers, 
aroused by his passionate lyrics, followed him to fight for 
Greek liberty, and before any government had taken action, the 
Turks complained that they had to contend with all Europe. 

2. The Russian people felt a deep sympathy for the Greeks as 
their co-religionists, and a deeper hatred for the Turks as their 
hereditary foes, so that the Tsar could not join in open 
intervention against the revolution. 

Finally, indeed, intervention came, but for the Greeks. The 
English, French, and Russian fleets had proceeded to Greece to 
enforce a truce, so as to permit negotiation. The three fleets were 
acting together under the lead of the English admiral, who hap- 
pened to be the senior officer. Almost by chance, and chiefly 
through the excited feelings of the common sailors, the fleets 
came into conflict with the Turkish fleet, and annihilated it in 
the battle of Navarino (October, 1827). The English com- 
mander had gone beyond his instructions, but excited public 
feeling gave the government no chance to disown him. So the 
three Powers forced Turkey to grant independence to the Greeks. 



^ This is one part of the famous Monroe Doctrine. 



SECOND FRENCH REVOLUTION 461 

Elsewhere, however, Metternich was triumphant. For. ten 
years after the overthrow of the gallant Spanish Revolution, the 
reactionists had things their own way from England to Greece. 
The next attack on Metternich'' s system came from France in 1830. 

When Louis XVIII became king of France (p. 447) he knew The French 
that the people must have some assurance of those personal ^^^ ®^ ° 
liberties which they had won in the Revolution. Accordingly 
he gave to the nation the "Charter of 1815." In this way he 
saved the theory of "divine right" ; and the preamble expressly 
declared the king the source of all authority. Still this grant 
gave the people of France more freedom than any other large 
country on the continent then had, — confirming religious lib- 
erty, equality before the law, free speech, and freedom of the 
press. Political liberty, however, was extremely limited. 
There was provided a legislature of two Houses, — the Peers 
(appointed by the king) and the Deputies ; but the property 
qualification for voting was put so high that only about one out 
of seventy adult males had any voice in the elections. More- 
over, the king kept an absolute veto and the sole right to propose 
laws, along with Napoleon's system of control over all local ad- 
ministration. 

In 1824 the shrewd Louis was succeeded by his arbitrary and Charles X 
extremely reactionary brother, Charles X. Now the govern- 
ment curtailed the freedom of the press, closed the historical 
lectures of Guizot (a very moderate Liberal), and plundered 
$200,000,000 from the treasury for returned Emigrants. It 
was plain, too, that the king was bent upon restoring to 
the church its old lands and its old control over education, 
and upon punishing the old Revolutionists. 

In 1827 came the election of a new Chamber of Deputies, and, 
despite the narrow electorate, that body had a large majority 
of Liberals, vehemently opposed to the king's policy. Charles 
tried to disregard that majority and to keep his old ministers 
in power ; but (March 2, 1830) the Assembly, by a vote of 221 
to 182, adopted a bold address calling for the dismissal of the 
ministry, — "that menace to public safety." Charles instead 



462 REACTION AND REVOLUTION AFTER 1820 



The " July 
Ordi- 
nances " of 
1830 



The " July 
Days " 



The end of 
divine right 
in France 



A limited 
monarchy 



dissolved the Chamber. Public interest was intense, and the 
aged Lafayette journeyed through France to organize the Liber- 
als for the next contest at the polls. The new elections in June 
destroyed the reactionary party. Every deputy who had voted 
against the ministry was reelected, and the Liberals gained also 
fifty of the remaining seats. 

Twice defeated by the votes of even the oligarchic landlords, 
but no whit daunted, the stubborn monarch tried a coup d'etat. 
He suspended the Charter by a series of edicts, known as the 
July Ordinances. These Ordinances (1) forbade the publication 
of newspapers without royal approval, (2) dissolved the new 
legislature (which had not yet met), and (3) promulgated a new 
law for elections so as to put control into the hands of a still 
smaller class of great landlords. 

The Ordinances were published July 26, 1830. That day, 
forty-one journalists of Paris, led by the young Thiers,^ printed 
a protest, declaring the Ordinances illegal and calling upon 
France to resist them. The journalists had in mind only legal 
resistance, not violence ; but there were in Paris a few old Rev- 
olutionists who were ready to go further. The same evening 
these radicals appointed "Committees of Insurrection" for the 
various districts of the city. The next morning angry crowds 
thronged the streets, and threw up barricades out of paving 
stones. That night Lafayette reached Paris, to take charge of 
the revolt. The regular troops made only half-hearted resist- 
ance. They lacked good leadership, and they hated to fire 
on the rebel flag, — the old tricolor. About four thousand men 
were slain in three days' fighting. Then Charles fled to England. 
Outside Paris, there was no fighting, hut the natioti gladly accepted 
this "Second French Revolution.'' 

The "divine-right monarchy" in France was now replaced 
by a constitutional kingship. The legislature, which Charles 
had tried to dissolve, restored the tricolor as the flag of France, 
made the Charter into a more liberal constitution, and then 



» Thiers had been preaching boldly in his newspaper the English constitu- 
tional doctrine, — "The king reigns; he does not govern.'' 



X 
X 

X 







^ 'm..^^^^^ .^m 




piM 








o 

CO 



a 

2 

K 

pq 






GAINS FOR FRANCE AND BELGIUM 463 

offered the crown to Louis Philippe^ (a distant cousin of Charles), 
on condition that he accept this amended Charter. The old Charter 
had declared that the king ruled "by the grace of God." The 
new document added the words, ''and by the will of the na- 
tion. '' 

In this vital respect, the Second French Revolution corre- The Charter 
sponded to the English Revolution of 1688. In other ways it ^^^^nded 
did not go so far. It did give to the legislature the right to 
introduce bills, and it doubled the number of voters, extending 
the franchise to all who paid forty dollars in direct taxes ; but 
this still left twenty-nine men out of thirty without votes. 

The revolution was not confined to France. For a moment, Spread of 
Metternich's system tottered over Europe. Belgium broke 
away from the king of Holland, to whom the Congress of Vienna 
had given it. Poland rose against the Tsar, to whom the Con- 
gress had given it. The states of Italy rose against Austria and 
the Austrian satellites, to whom the Congress had given them. 
And in Germany there were uprisings in all absolutist states, 
to demand the constitutions which the Congress had not given. 

The final gains, however, were not vast. Belgium did become Gains and 
an independent monarchy, with the most liberal constitution bosses in 
on the continent. And France, besides her own gains, was def- 
initely lost to the Holy Alliance of divine-right despots. (In- 
deed France joined England in protecting Belgium by arms 
igainst * intervention" — so that Metternich called London 
and Paris *' the two mad-houses of Europe.") But Tsar Nicho- 
las crushed the Poles, took away the constitution that Alex- 
ander had given them during his rule, and made Alexander's 
"Kingdom of Poland" into a mere Russian province. Aus- 
tria crushed the Italian revolts ; and then, his hands free once 
more, Metternich restored "order" (and despotism) in the 
disturbed German states. 

1 As a youth Louis Philippe had taken the side of the First Revolution 
in 1789, and had fought gallantly in the French Revolutionary armies, 
until the extremists drove him into exile. Then, instead of joining the 
royalist emigrants in their attacks on France, he had fled to England and 
America, — where he earned his li\'ing by teaching French. 



464 REACTION AND REVOLUTION AFTER 1820 

Still, reaction had lost much of its confidence ; and when the 
next year of revolutions came, Metternich's system fell forever 
in Western Europe. That successful " Revolution of 1848 '* 
began in France, but it was the work of a new class of working- 
men, — factory workers, — who themselves were the product of 
a new industrial system that had grown up first in England. We 
must go back for that story. 



)l 



PLATE LXXXI 




Abovk. — Farm Tools in ISOO. — There were none others except the 
wagon — and the new and very rare (and very crude) threshing machine. 

Below.- — Modern Plowing. — These two cuts suggest only faintly the 
change that a hundred years has worked in agriculture. The tractor, 
steam or gasoline, is an American invention. Note the width of the swath. 
The movement forward is far more rapid than any horse team can go 
with one plowshare. Note the comfort in which the men work. And the 
difference between the plows of 1800 and of 1900 is less striking than 
the difference between the amount of farm machinery then and now. 



CHAPTER XLIX 
ENGLAND AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 

While France was giving the world her first great social and The " In- 

political revolution, with noise and blood, toward the close of ^"^*"^1. 

. Revolution 

the eighteenth century, England had been working out quietly 
an even greater revolution which was to change the work and 
daily life of the masses of men and women and children over all 
the world. This " revolution" was at first a change in the ways 
in which certain kinds of work were done ; so we call it " the In- 
dustrial Revolution." It was not wrought by kings, or generals, 
but by humble workers busied in homely toil, puzzling day after 
day over wheels and belts and rollers and levers, seeking some 
way to save time. 

Our life and labor differ far more widely from that of our Little 

great-great-grandfathers in the time of the American Revolu- p^ange in 

... . . industry for 

tion, than their life and labor differed from that of men in the looo years 

time of Charlemagne a thousand years before. In the days of ^^^o^^ ^750 
Voltaire and George Washington, men raised grain, and wove 
cloth, and carried their spare products to market, in almost pre- 
cisely the same way in which these things had been done for six 
thousand years. 

The first improvements came in England. Early in the eight- The revo- 

eenth centurv, landlords there had introduced a better system of li^*^°? ^J^ 
, " , , . ./ .' Enghsh 

"crop-rotation,'^ raising roots like beets and turnips on the field agriculture 
formerly left fallow (p. 275). The added root crops made it possi- 
ble to feed more cattle — which furnished more manure, which in- 
creased all crops. Mechanical invention in agriculture came a 
little later. In 1785 the first threshing machine was invented, 
and enterprising "gentlemen farmers" soon began to use it ; but 
it was exceedingh' crude. The cradle scythe — a hand tool, but 
a vast improvement on the old sickle for harvesting grain — was 

465 



466 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



The revolu- 
tion in 
transporta- 
tion 



Weaving 

and 

spinning 



patented in America in 1803. The cast-iron plow ^ appeared 
about 1800, permitting deeper plowing and more rapid work ; but 
for some time, even in America, farmers were generally preju- 
diced against it, asserting that the iron "poisoned" the 
ground. 

When these changes in agricultural production were just be- 
ginning there came also a change in transportation. Merchan- 
dise had been carried from place to place on pack horses ; and 
travel was on horseback , or (on a few roads) by clumsy slow six- 
horse coaches. But about 1750 England began building "turn- 
pikes" (with frequent barriers where tolls were collected from 
travelers to keep up repairs) ; a Scotch engineer, MacAdam, gave 
his name to "Macadamized" roads; and soon extensive canals 
(with " locks " to permit a boat to pass from one level to another) 
began to care for most of the bulky commerce. 

The change that was really to revolutionize society, how- 
ever, came in manufacturing, and first in spinning. In Queen 
Elizabeth's time, the fiber of flax or wool was drawn into thread 
by the distaff and spindle, as among the Stone- Age w omen. But 
in the seventeenth century in England, the distaff was replaced 
by the spinning wheel, — run first by one hand, but afterward by 
the foot of the spinner. Even the wheel, however (such as may 
now and then still be found tucked away in an old attic), drew 
out only one thread at a time. To spin thread enough to weave 
into the cloth for a family's clothing was a serious task. Weav- 
ers didn't get thread fact enough, and in 1761 the English 
Royal Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures offered 
a prize for an invention for swifter spinning. Three years later, 
in 1764 (just before Parliament passed the Stamp Act), an Eng- 
lish weaver, James Hargreaves, noticed that his wife's spinning 
wheel, tipped over on the floor, kept whirling away for a sur- 
prising time. Taking a hint from this new position, he invented 
a machine where one wheel turned eight spindles, and spun eight 
threads, instead of one. Hargreaves called the new machine 
the "Jenny," from his wife's name. 

1 Improvements on the plow began with experiments on the shape of the 
mold board by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia. 



IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY 



467 



The thread was not satisfactory, however, for all parts of cloth Water 

manufacture ; but in 1775 Richard Arkwriqhi, a harher and ped- P°'^^'' ^^^ 
J, 1 . 1 p • . , . hand power 

dler, devised a new sort oi spinner without spindles. He ran 




CovvrigJit by Underwood & Underwooa 
A Spinning Wheel found in use recently in a Swiss home. 



his wool or cotton through a series of rollers revolving at different 
rates, to draw out the thread ; and he drove these rollers by water 
power, not b\^ hand, and so called his machine a " Water Frame.'' 
Four years later (1779), Samuel Crompton, an English weaver, 
ingeniously combined the best features of the "Jenny" and the 



^m 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



''Water Frame ' into a new machine which he called "the mule^* 
— in honor of this mixed parentage. With "the mule," one 
spinner could spin two hundred threads at a time. 

Now the wearers could not keep up. They were still using the 
hand loom, older than history. Threads were drawn out length- 




Copyriyiu by Underwood & Underwood 
A Primitive Loom in use in Japan to-day. 



The cotton 
gin and the 
supply of 
cotton 



wise on a frame, so making the warp. Then the weaver drove 
his shuttle by hand back and forth between those threads with 
the woof (cross threads). But now (1784) Edmund Cartwright, 
a clergyman of the Church of England, patented a ^^ power loom," 
in which the shuttle threw itself back and forth automatically ; and 
by later improvements it became possible for one man to weave 
more cloth in 1800 than two hundred could in 1770. 

The next need was more cotton ready to spin. Eli Whitney, 
in America, met this by inventing his Cotton Gin, wherewith one 
slave could clean as much cotton fiber from the seed as three 
hundred had been able to clean before. At almost the same time • 



PLATE LXXXII 




Above. — Twentieth-century Spinning Machinery — which, with 
• very little human labor, spins thousands of threads at once. 
Below. — A Modern Power Loom. 



STEAM AND IRON 



469 



a way was found to bleach cloth swiftly, by chemicals, instead 
of slowly by air and sun as formerly. 

Then came James Watt to supply a new power to run The steam 
this new machinery. Before 1300, Roger Bacon had specu- ®^sine 
lated on the expansive power of steam as a motive power, 
and a nobleman of Charles I's time constructed a steam 
engine that pumped water. Inventor and invention perished 




Courtesy of the Library of Congi tA* 

An Early Cotton Gin. 



in the Civil War that followed ; ^ but, a hundred years later, 
steam engines began to be used in England to draw water 
out of flooded mines. These engines, however, had only an 
up-and-down movement ; they were clumsy and slow ; and 
they wasted steam and fuel. James Watt, an instrument- 
maker, was called upon to repair a model for such an engine, and 
became interested in removing these defects. By 1785, he 
had constructed engines that worked much more swiftly, eco- 
nomically, and powerfully, and which could transmit their power 
to wheels (and so drive machinery) by an arrangement of shafts 
and cranks. In 1785 steam was first used to drive spinning ma- 
chinery. Fifteen years later, there were more steam engines in 

1 George MacDonald's St. George and St. Michael tells the story. 



470 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



Improve- 
ments in 
working iron 



The 

steamboat 



The 

railway 



England than water wheels, and four had found their way to 
America. 

One more series of inventions completed this wonderful circle 
of the eighteenth century. Engines and power machines could 
be built in a satisfactory manner only from iron ; but the man- 
ufacture of iron was still slow and costly, and the product was 
poor stuff. In 1 790, however, steam began to be used to furnish 
a new blowing apparatus which gave a steady blast of air, in place 
of the old bellows and like arrangements. This soon made pos- 
sible more rapid and more perfect work in iron. New and better 
ways, too, were found to change the brittle "castings" into mal- 
leable "wrought" iron. 

Thus, by 1800, the " age of steam and iron'' had begun in Eng- 
land, and to some degree in America. The continent of Europe 
was closed against it some years longer by Napoleon's Continen- 
tal System. 

This is the convenient place to note two applications of the 
steam engine to locomotion, and also a few other inventions of 
the following half-century — more in America now than in 
England. 

In America the chief need was to apply steam to locomotion, 
and first (with our tremendous distances and lack of roads) to 
locomotion by ivatcr. As early as 1787 James Rumsey of Virginia 
ran a steaml)oat on the Potomac, and at almost the same time 
John Fitch and Oliver Evans did the like on the Susquehanna 
at Philadelphia. But no one of these neglected and broken- 
hearted geniuses could find capital willing to back the invention. 
Some twenty years later, however, Robert Fulton was more for- 
tunate.^ He secured money from Chancellor Livingstone of 
New York : and in 1807 his Clermont made its trial trip up the 
Hudson, 150 miles in 32 hours. 

Since steam could drive boats, why not coaches on land? 

Horse tramways had been used in England for many years to 

carry coal from a mine to a canal, and soon after 1800 a Cor- 

1 Fulton offered his invention first to Napoleon, as a means of transporting 
his waiting troops from Boulogne to England (p. 439). Happily, Napoleon 
thought him a faker. 



PLATE LXXXIII 





Above. — Fulton'^ Ciu//,<-u,a. — From a model in the National Museum 

at Washington. ■" 

Below, — The modern steamship Brittanlc of the White Star Line. 



SPREADS TO AMERICA 471 

nishman used a stationary steam engine to furnish the power for 
a short tramway. But the problem was to get a traveling engine. 
In 1814 George Stephenson succeeded in building a "locomo- 
tive" able to haul coal carts on tramways, and in 1825 a pas- 
senger line (twelve miles long) was opened in England. In 1833 
a steam railway carried passengers from London to Liverpool 
in ten hours (a four-hour ride now), whereas the stage coach took 
sixty. The railway age had begun. 

And in many other ways, soon after 1800, mechanical inven- Other lead- 
tion began to affect life. From the beginning of George Wash- t^^/^j^^en- 
ington's administration to 1812, the American Patent Office tions — to 
registered less than eighty new inventions a year. From 1812 ' ^^ 
to 1820 the number rose to about 200 a year, and in 1830 there 
were 544 new patents issued. Twenty years later the thousand 
mark was passed, and in 1860 there were five thousand. A like 
movement, if not quite so swift, was taking place also in England. 

These inventions mostly saved time or helped to make life more 
comfortable or more attractive. A few cases onl}^ can be men- 
tioned from the bewildering mass. The McCormick reaper (to 
be drawn by horses) appeared in 1831, and soon multiplied the 
farmer's efficiency in the harvest field b\^ twenty. (This re- 
leased many men from food-production, and made more possible 
the growth of cities and of manufactures.) Planing mills created 
a new industry in woodworking. "Coifs revolver" (1835) re- 
placed the one-shot "pistol." Iron stoves began to rival the 
ancient fireplace, especially for cooking. Friction matches, in- 
vented in England in 1827, were the first improvement on pre- 
historic methods of making fire. Illuminating gas, for lighting 
city streets, made better order possible at night, and helped im- 
prove public morals. In 1838 the English Great Western (with 
screw propeller instead of side paddles, and with coal to heat its 
boilers) established steam navigation between Europe and Amer- 
ica. The same year saw the first successful use of huge steam 
hammers, and of anthracite coal for smelting iron. In 1839 a 
Frenchman, Daguerre, began photography with his " daguerreo- 
type." Still earlier, a French chemist had invented the canning 



472 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



of foods. In 1841 Dr. Crawford W. Long first demonstrated the 
value of ether as an anesthetic, — an incomparable boon to suffer- 
ing men and women. The magnetic telegraph, invented in 1835, 
was made effective in 1844. The Howe sewing machine was 
patented in 1846 ; and the next year saw the first rotary printijig 
press. 



Bessemer 
steel 



Petroleum 



The latest phases of the Industrial Revolution — which has 
never ceased — will be noted when we reach the " Age of Elec 
tricity"; l)ut it is convenient to treat here two of the chief 
developments of the second half of the nineteenth century. 

1. The rapidly growing use of machinery called insistently 
for still better material than ordinary iron. Steel, an alloy of 
iron and carbon about midway in structure between cast iron 
and wrought iron, had been prized for centuries ; but no way was 
known to produce it rapidly out of iron ore. The Bessemer 
process (invented in England) made steel available and relatively 
cheap. Thib invention gave a tremendous impulse to all forms 
of industry, transforming even the landscape, with our lofty 
"iron" [steel] bridges, and the exterior of our cities, with our 
modern "sky-scrapers." 

2. Coal became the chief manufacturing fuel about 1800; 
but before the close of the nineteenth century its place in many 
industries was challenged by mineral oil, or petroleum. Min- 
eral oil had been known in small quantities, and was used as a 
liniment ("Seneca Oil") before 1850. The first gushing oil 
well was discovered in western Pennsylvania in 1859, and the 
use of oil for light, heat, and power began. "To strike oil" 
soon became a byword for success — equivalent to a **ship come 
home" in the days of primitive commerce. Of recent years all 
the great industrial nations have been increasingly concerned 
about the future supply of this indispensable commodity, 
looking covetously toward the rich but undeveloped oil dis- 
tricts of Mexico, Roumania, and Mesopotamia. 



X 

Oh 






i 


o o 
o ^ 


-*J 




"o 




;» 


. rf 


c3 






t- o 




-2^56 


^' 


c o 


Cj 


o 




o .w 


s; 



MH 









b£ 






C O 

^ o 



PQ - ^ 

P M 



o o 

H ^ O 

5 '^ •^ 



in P^ ^ 



o 






CHAPTER L 
THE REVOLUTION IN THE LIVES OF THE WORKERS 

With machinery and steam power, one laborer was soon 
able to produce more wealth than hundreds had produced by the 
old hand processes. This ought to have been pure gain for all 
the world, and especially it should have meant more comfort 
and more leisure for the workers. Part of the increased 
wealth did go, indirectly, to the common gain, in lower prices. 
Every one could soon buy cloth and hardware cheaper than be- 
fore the Industrial Revolution. But, even yet, the workers 
have failed to get their fair share of the world's gain ; and for 
many of them, while the Industrial Revolution was young, it 
meant, not higher life, but lower life. 

Under the "domestic system" (p. 36G) all manufactures had Workmen 
been handmade (as the word "manufacture" signifies). Hours "f^^u^^^ 
of labor were long and profits were small, because there was mestic sys- 
little surplus wealth to divide. But workmen worked in their *®"^ 
own homes, under reasonably wholesome conditions. Their 
labor was varied. They owned their own tools. They had con- 
siderable command over their hours of toil. Their condition 
resembled that of the farmer of to-day more than that of the 
modern factory worker. Usually, too, the artisan's home had 
its garden plot, from which he drew part of his living, and in 
which he could spend much labor profitably in a dull season for 
his trade. But the machinery of the new industrial age was The new 

costly. Workmen could not own it as thev had owned their ^^^^^^^ 
•^ ^ . . . system 

old tools. Nor did they know how to combine to own it in 
groups. It all passed into the hands of wealthy men, who hired 
workers ("operatives") to "operate" it. This marks the be- 
ginning of a new organization of labor. As the old slave system 
gave way to serfdom in agriculture and to a gild organization 

473 



474 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



The new 
" capital- 
ist" 



The new 
" pro- 
letariat " 



Cleavage 
between 
classes 



in manufactures, and as gilds gave way to the domestic system, 
so now the domestic system gave way to the present capitalist 
system, or wage system, or factory system. 

The capitaHst manufacturer was a new figure in European 
Hfe, appearing first in England, alongside the country gentlemen 
and the merchant princes. He was not himself a workman, like 
the old "master." He was only an "employer." He erected 
great factories, filled them with costly machines, bought the 
necessary "raw material" (cotton, wool, or iron, as the case 
might be), paid wages, and took the profits. 

And if the capitalist was a new figure in middle-class society, 
the capitalless and landless worker was a much more significant 
new figure in the "lower classes." He now furnished nothing 
but his hands. Moreover, much of the work on the new ma- 
chinery could be done by women and children — especially in 
all cloth manufactures, where the work consisted largely in 
turning a le\'er, or tying broken threads, or cleaning machinery. 
Until the operatives learned how to combine, so as to bargain 
collectively, the capitalist could fix wages and hours and con- 
ditions as he pleased. 

The capitalist, too, had no personal contact with his workmen. 
He employed, not two or three, living in his own family, but 
hundreds or thousands, whose names even he did not know ex- 
cept on the payroll. There was no chance for understanding 
between him and his "hands." Under the gild and domestic 
systems, apprentices and journeymen had expected to rise, 
sooner or later, to be "masters"; and at all times they lived 
on terms of constant intercourse with their masters, who 
worked side by side with them, and had a sort of fatherly 
guardianship over them. Under the new system, a particularly 
enterprising and fortunate workman might now and then 
rise into the capitalist class ; but on the whole, a permanent 
line separated the two classes. 

These features of the capitalist system we still have with us. 
But another group of changes, less inevitable, were for a time ex- 
ceedingly disastrous. As the factor}^ came in, the worker changed 
his whole manner of life for the worse. He had to reach 



AND CHILD LABOR 475 

his place of work by sunrise or earlier, and stay there till sunset Tenement 
or dusk. So the employer built long blocks of ugly tenements near' ® 
the factory for rent ; and the workmen moved from their \illage 
homes, with garden spots and fresh air and varied industry, into 
these crowded and squalid city quarters. In 1750 England was 
still a rural country, with only five towns of more than 5000 
people. In 1801 more than a hundred towns counted 5000 
people, and the total population had nearly doubled. 

England was the first country to face the problems created 
by this rapid growth of city populations ; and in England for 
a time no one saw these problems clearly. The employers, 
most directly responsible, felt no responsibility, and were en- 
gaged in an exciting race for wealth. The ncAV cities grew up 
without water supply, or drainage, or garbage-collection. Sci- 
ence had not learned how to care for these needs, and law had 
not begun to wrestle with them. The masses of factory work- 
ers and their families dwelt in den-like garrets and cellars — a 
family stuffed indecently into a squalid unwholesome room or two 
— bordering on pestilential alleys, in perpetual filth and disease 
and misery and vice. In 1837 one tenth of the people of the 
great city of Manchester lived in cellars. 

Little better was the factory itself. Carpenters and masons Long hours 

conmionlv worked from sunrise to sunset — or even from dawn ^^. °^°" 
•' ^ notonous 

to dark — j st as farm laborers often do still. Such long labor 
hours for toil were terribly hard : but they could be endured 
when spent in fresh air, amid out-door scenes, in interesting 
and varied activitv. But this long labor day was now carried The long 
into the factory. There it was unendurable and ruinous, be- ^^ 
cause of foul air, poor light, nerve-racking noise of dangerous, 
limb-tearing machinery, the more monotonous character of 
factory labor — the workman spending his day in repeating 
over and over one simple set of motions, — and because there 
it crushed women and children. 

This was true even in America, when factories grew up here Illustrations 
after 1815. Many years ago, Professor Ely of Wisconsin Uni- [caTn^j^aT 
versity wrote (Labor Movement in America, 49): "The length 
of actual labor [in 1832] in the Eagle Mill at Griswold [Connect- 



476 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



Child 
slavery in 
England 



The 

beginnings 
of reform 



The " let- 
alone " 
theory of 
economics 



icut] was fifteen hours and ten minutes. The regulations at 
Paterson, New Jersey, required women and children to be at 
work at half-past four in the morning. . . . Operatives were 
taxed by the manufacturers for the support of churches. . . . 
Women and children w^ere urged on by the use of the rawhide." 

In England, conditions were at first worse than this. Parish 
authorities had power to take children from pauper families and 
apprentice them to employers ; and dissolute parents sometimes 
sold their children into service by written contracts. In the 
years just before ISOO, gangs of helpless little ones from six 
and seven years upwards, secured in this w^ay by greedy con- 
tractors, were auctioned off, thousands at a time, into ghastly 
slavery. They received no wages. They were clothed in rags. 
They had too little food, and only the coarsest. They were 
driven to toil sixteen hours a day, in some places by inhuman 
tortures. They had no holiday except Sunday ; and their few 
hours for sleep were spent in dirty beds from which other 
relays of little workers had just been turned out. Schooling 
or play there was none ; and the poor waifs grew up — girls as 
well as boys — if they lived at all, amid shocking and brutal im- 
morality. 

In 1800 a terrible epidemic among children in factory districts 
aroused public attention ; and Parliament "reduced" the hours 
of labor for children-apprentices to twelve a day. In 1819 and 
in 1831 laws were passed to shorten hours also for other child 
employees — who were supposed to be looked after by their 
parents. But these laws were ill-enforced ; and until after 1833 
(p. 520) the mass of factory children continued to be " sad, de- 
jected, cadaverous creatures," among whom at any great factory, 
said a careful observer, " the crippled and distorted forms were 
to be counted by hundreds." ^ 

The revolution in work and in the workers' lives brought with 
it a revolution in thought. A group of writers put into form 
a new doctrine about the production of wealth — which very 
largely replaced the old Mercantilist political economy. The 

1 Read Mrs. Browning's Cry of the Children. 



PLATE LXXXV 




Above. — Harvesting in 1831, with McCormick's first successful horse 
reaper, ■ — a tremendous advance upon the old hand sickle. (The sell- 
binder had not yet been invented.) 

Below. — Harvesting To-day. A Mogul Kerosene Tractor pulling two 
McCormick reapers and binders with mechanical shockers. Two men 
do many times as much work as six with the earlier reaper. (Cf. also 
cuts facing p. 405.) 



AND SOCIALISM 477 

leader of the new teaching was Adam Sniitli in England. His 
Wealth of Notions (pnhHshed in 1776) taught that "laws" of 
" supply and demand " were " natural laws " in society, and could 
not be meddled with except to do harm. Prices and wages and 
all conditions of labor were to be regulated wholly by this " law." 
This would secure " the greatest happiness of the greatest num- 
ber. " Government must keep hands off, unless called in as a 
policeman to keep order. 

This became known as the "Manchester doctrine," because 
so universal in that early center of manufactures. It is also called 
by a French name, — Laissez faire ("let it go"). English mer- 
chants, also, accepted it, in their hatred of the old restrictions 
upon trade ; and it soon became almost a religion to the town 
middle class. It suited the strong and prosperous, but it was 
utterly unchristian in its corollary-, "The devil take the hind- 
most." It produced happiness for a few, and misery "for the 
greatest numbers." The horrible conditions of the new factory 
towns were its first fruits. Some thinkers began to call this po- 
litical economy a "dismal science," and, in search of a cure for 
social ills, to swing over to some form of socialism. 

The early socialists were moved b\^ a deep love for humanity Early 
and by a passionate hatred for suffering and injustice, but they socialism 
were not scientific thinkers. The}' believed that rich and poor 
could be induced by argument to set up a society of common 
goods and brotherly love, such as More had pictured in Utopia. 
Usually they thought that, in the new arrangement, society 
would be broken up into many small communistic units of a few 
hundred or a few thousand people each ; and one of the leaders, 
Robert Owen (a Scotch manufacturer), spent his fortune in es- 
tablishing model cooperative communities of that sort, as at 
New Harmony in Indiana. (All Owen's settlements failed ; but 
his work gave a great impulse to the later cooperative societies.) 

Modern socialists look back upon these early efforts as well- Marxian 
meant efforts of dreamers, and trace their present doctrine to ^°"^^^^°^ 
Karl Marx. Marx was born in 1818 in Germany. He attended 
the University of Berlin, and was intended by his family for a 
university professor ; but his radical ideas kept him from obtain- 



478 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



ing such a position. He began to publish his works on socialism 
about 1847. Germany and then France drove him away as a 
dangerous disturber of order ; and he spent the last half of his 
life in England. 

Marx threw aside the idea that benevolent persons could in- 
troduce a new era of cooperation by agreement. He believed, 
however, that a new cooperative organization of society was 
going to succeed the present individualistic organization as in- 
evitably as that had followed the gild and slave organization. 




Steel Works in Pueblo, Colorado. 



through tendencies in economic development that could not be 
controlled. All history, he said, had been the story of class 
struggles. Ancient society was a contest between master and 
slave ; medieval society, between lord and serf ; present society, 
between capitalist and workers. The workers, he was sure, will 
win, when they learn to unite. 

Modern socialism points out that a few capitalists control the 
means of producing wealth. This, they argue, is the essential 
evil in industrial conditions. Their remedy is to have society step 
into the place of those Jew, taking over the ownership and man- 
agement (1) of natural resources (mines, oil wells, water power, 



action 



AND SOCIALISM 479 

etc.) ; (2) of transportation ; (3) of all machinery employed in 
large-scale production. They do not wish to divide up property, 
or to keep individuals from owning houses, libraries, carriages, 
pictures, jewels, of their own. That is, they do not wish to 
abolish private ownership of the things we use to support life or 
to make life more enjoyable, but only of those things we use to 
produce more wealth. 

Unfortunately a large division of socialists have abandoned " Direct 
the ballot in favor of " direct action." By this they do not mean, 
most of them, bombs or bullets, but they do mean industrial com- 
pulsion of society through " general strikes." To succeed in this, 
they aim first to organize all workers in each great industry, un- 
skilled as well as skilled, into "one big union." This program 
originated with the French "Syndicalists" a few years ago, and 
has been adopted by the "I. W. W. " in America. Society 
tends, naturally, to meet these threats of compulsion with harsh 
repression. However, the world congress of socialists in 1920 
(the "Second International") distinctly repudiated these 
methods and clearly affirmed its faith in persuasion and the 
ballot. 

Students who pay any attention to socialism admit that its 
ideals are noble, and that it has rendered a real service by call- 
ing attention forcefully to cruel evils in our society. But the 
great majority of thinkers have little faith in its remedies, and dp 
not believe that the socialist program would work as its ad- 
vocates teach. Most constructive thinkers hope to lessen the 
ills of society without surrendering private enterprise and in- 
dividual initiative to any such degree as the socialists think 
necessary. 

For Further Reading. — On the Industrial Revolution, — Slater's 
Modern England (American edition), especially the introduction; 
Alsopp's English Industrial History, Part IV ; Byrn's Progress of In- 
vention; Kirkup's History of Socialism. 



PART XII - CONTINENTAL EUROPE 
REARRANGED, 18481871 



The mid- 
dle-class 
monarchy 



Guizot's 
poUcy of 
stagnation. 
1840-1848 



CHAPTER LI 

" THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS," 1848 

I. IN FRANCE 

In France the divine-right monarchy, we have seen, gave 
way in 1830 to a constitutional monarchy. Louis PhiUppe 
(p. 4G3) liked to be called "the Citizen King?"" He walked 
the streets in the dress of a' prosperous shopkeeper, a green 
cotton umbrella under his arm, chatting cordially with pass- 
ers-by. lie had little understanding, however, of the needs 
of France, or of the feelings of the masses below the shopkeeping 
class. For eighteen years (1830-1848) the favor of the middle 
class upheld his throne. Only the richest citizens shared in 
political power (p. 463) ; but the whole middle class held mili- 
tary power in the National Guards — to which no workingmen 
were admitted. 

In the legislature there were two main parties. Thiers (p. 462) 
led the more Uberal one, which, wished the monarch to be a 
Jigurehead, as in England; Guizot (p. 461), the conservative 
leader, wanted to leave the king the real executive, and to^e^ist 
all further liberalizing of the government. (Both Guizot and 
Thiers were famous historians.) 

\ " — f^oin^S#lcn84B,~Guizot was chief minister. Frahce was 
undergoing rapid industrial growth, and needed tranquillity 
and reforms. GuizoTgave it tran^iuillity. His ministry was 
the most stable government that France had known since 
the days of Napoleon. But, in his desire for tranquillity, he 

^~^opposed all reform. Proposals to reduce the enormous salt 

480 



FRANCE IN '48 481 

tax, to extend education, to reform the outi^rown postal s^'stem, 
to improve the prisons, to care for youthful criminals, were 
alike suppressed. He kept France not so much tranquil as 
stagnant. 

Thus, after a time, the bright, brainy public men were nearly " Place- 
all driven into opposition. But Guizot could not be overthrown °^®° . " , 
^ ^ f ^^ _ organized 

by lawful means. The franchise was t/30''harrow; and (incor- corruption 
ruptible and austere himselfj he had organized the vast pat- 
ronage of the government for public corruption. Less than Narrow 
200,000 men could^vQte, and the government hadrTOO,000 ^^^^t^^"^*^ 

o'ffices'to buy voters witK."^ A^ one time, half the legislature '^ 

helcTconsiderable revenues at Guizot 's will. 

In the matter of political reform Thiers ' party asked only The Lib - 
(1) to forbid the appointment of members of the legislature to appeaUo ° 
salaried offices, and (2) to widen_the_fr^n€hise so that one man public ^ 
out o£ twenty could vote. Guizot smothered both proposals. °P^"^°^ 
Finally the Liberals began to appeal to that vast part of the ) 

nation that had no vote. They planned _a_series_of^jiiass meet- 
ings, to bring public opinion to bear on the legislature. 
Guizot forbade these meetings — and brought on a revo- 
lution. "' 

ThisJ' Revolutien^f lSJS^l.was_ibe.jirork-.of-4he class_j)f factory 
workers that had been growing up, almost unnoticed by political 
leaders of either party. Until 1825, when the Industrial Revo- 
lution was fairly complete in England, it had not begun upon the 
continent. Cloth manufactures there were still carried on under 
the "domestic system." But in the next ten years, 5000 power- 
looms were installed in French factories ; and in ten years more, 
the number had grown to 30,000. By 1845, a large factory The new 

population had grown up in cities like Bordeaux, Lvons, Tou- "socialism' 
\ , . . ^ among the 

louse, and Paris. Moreover, more than the working class then workmen 

in any other land, the alert, intellectually nimble French work- °^ ^^^^ 

ingmen wer e inf luenced by the new socialism. Their chief 

spokesman was Loms^Elanc, an ardent young editor, who 

1 The government appointed not only ruitional officials (post officers, 
custom-house collectors, etc.) but also all local officers, like our county 
treasurers and city policer "^ : _ .J ^ — -' '-^ 



482 



SECOND FRENCH REVOLUTION 



The " Feb- 
ruary days ' 



The last of 
the Cape- 
tians 



The 

Provisional 
Government 
of 1848 



preached especially "the right to ivork." Every man, he urged, 
had a right to employment, ^o insure that right, he wished 
the nation to establish workshops in different trades and give 
employment in them to ^11 who washed it and who could not 
get it elsewhere. (In the end, according to his plan, the workers 
would manage the workshops.) 

Blanc was an unselfish, high-minded man, moved by deep 
pity for the suffering masses ; and his proposals were urged 
with moderation of word and style. But among his followers 
there were a few crack-brained enthusiasts and some criminally 
selfish adventurers ; and large num})ers of the workingmen had 
adopted phrases, not only about the "right to work," but also 
about "the crime of private property," as a sort of religious 
creed. This class was now to appear as a political power. 

In 1848 the Liberals appointed a monster political demon- 
stration in Paris for February 22 — choosing that day in honor 
of the American celebration. At the last moment the gov- 
ernment forl^ade the meeting. The leaders obeyed and stayed 
away ; but the streets were filled all day with angry crowds, 
shouting "Down with Guizot!" The National Guards, when 
called out to disperse the mob, themselves took up the cry. The 
next day Guizot resigned. 

Peace seemed restored ; but that night a collision occurred 
between some troops and the mob ; and the Radicals seized the 
chance. The bodies of a few slain men were paraded through 
the poorer quarters of the city in carts, w^hile fervid orators 
called the people to rise against a monarchy that massacred 
French citizens. By the morning of the 24th, the streets bristled 
with barricades and the mob was marching on the Tuileries. 
Louis Philippe fled to England, disguised as a "Mr. Smith." 
The "February days" saw the end of the thousand-year old 
Capetian monarchy. 

The mob had taken up the cry for a republic. Before dis- 
persing, a few liberal members of the legislature had appointed 
a radical committee as a " Provisional (jovernment " — with 
Lamartine, the poet-historian, as its guiding force^ This body 
of course was to call a convention to make a new constitution ; 



I 



NATIONAL WORKSHOPS 483 

but meantime it must govern France, and especially it must at 
once restore order, bury the dead, care for the wounded, and 
secure food for the great city, wherein all ordinary business had 
ceased, — all this with no police force at its call. 

The first session (begun while the mob was still flourishing 
bloody butcher-knives in the legislative hall) lasted sixty hours. 
One hundred thousand revolutionists still packed the street 
without, and "delegations" repeatedly forced their way in, 
to make wild demands. Said one spokesman : " We demand the 
extermination of property and of capitalists ; the instant estab- 
lishment of community of goods; the proscription of the rich, 
the merchants, those of every condition above that of wage- 
earners; . . . and finally the acceptance of the red flag, to 
signify to society its defeat, to the people its victory, to all 
foreign governments invasion." 

Lamartine grew faint with exhaustion and want of food. His 
face was scratched by a bayonet thrust. But his fine courage 
and wit and persuasive eloquence won victory. __IoJtielp ap- 
pease the mob, however, the Government hastily adopted a 
number of radical decrees, writing them hurriedly upon scraps 
of paper and throwing them from a window to the crowd. One 
declared France a Republic. Another abolished the House of 
Peers. _. Still others established manhood suffrage, shortened 
the W-QEking day to ten hours, and affirmed the duty of the state 
to give every man a chance to work. 

A few days later, the decree recognizing the "right to work" The "work- 
was given more specific meaning by the establishment of "na- ^^°P " ^^^ 
tional workshops" (on paper) for the unemployed. In the 
business panic that followed the Revolution, great numbers of 
men had been thrown out of work. The government now organ- 
ized these men in Paris, as they applied, into a ** workshop 
army," in brigades, companies, and squads, — paying full wages 
to all it could employ and a three-fourths wage to those obliged 
to remain idle. Over one hundred thousand men, many of 
them from other cities, were soon enrolled in this way ; but, 
except for a little work on the streets, the government had no 
employment ready^ for sucfr a nmnher. The experiment was not 



484 



SECOND FRENCH REVOLUTION 



The new 
Assembly 



\ 

The Pai^s 
workmefi 
crushed 



The Con- 
stitution of 
"the 
Second 
RepubUc "/ 




"The 
Napoleonic 
legend " 



in any sense a fair trial of the socialistic Idea : it was a way of 
keeping order and of feeding a destitute army of the unemployed. 

A new "Constituent Assembly," elected by manhood suffrage, 
met May 4. 'The Revolution, like that of 1830, had been con- 
TmedTo Paris. The rest of France had not cared to interfere 
in behalf of Louis Pliilippe, but it felt no enthusiasm for a re- 
public and it abhorred the "Reds" and the socialists. This, 
too, was the temper of the Assembly. It accepted the Revo- 
lution, but it was bent upon putting down the Radicals. Al- 
most its first work (after making military preparation) was to 
__§tbolish the workshop armj^ — without notice and without any 
provision for the absorption of the men into other employments. 
A conservative French statesman has styled this "a brutal, 
unjust, blundering end to a foolish experirnent." The men of 
the w orkshop a rmy rose. They comprised the great body of the 
workingmen of Paris, and they were aided by their semi-mili- 
tary organization. The conflict raged for four days, — ^^ the 
most terrible struggle that even turbulent Paris had ever wit- 
nessed. Twenty thousand men perished ; but in the outcome, 
"the superior discipline and equipment of the Assembly 's troops 
crushed tlie socialists. Elevea thousand prisoners were slaugh- 
tered- -in _cold blood or transported for life — another of those 
cruel and senseless "White Terrors" which develop bitter class 
hatreds. 

The Assembly now turned to its work of making a constitu- 
tion. The document was made public in November. It was 
not submitted to aTpopulaFvote. It provided for a legislature 
of one house, and for a four-year president, both to be chosen 
b^>;;^anhood suffrage. A month later, Louis Napoleon, a nephew 
of Napoleon Bonaparte, was elected president of this ** Second 
French Republic" by an overwhelming majority. 

Napoleon's political capital was his name. A group of bril- 
liant j)ropagandists of whom, strangely enough, Thiers was_ 
chief, had .created a " Napoleon ic legend, '^repre sent ing the rule 
of the First Napoleon as a period of glory and prosperity, broken 
only by wars forced upon France by the jealousy of other rulers. 
These ideas had become a blind faith for great masses in France. 



BOHEMIA AND HUNGARY 



485 



Louis Napoleon had long believed that he was destined to 
revive the rule of his family. Twice in the early years 
of Louis Philippe's reign 
he had tried to stir up a 
Napoleonic revolution, 
only to become a laughing- 
stock to Europe. But 
now to thejpeasantry and 
the jniddle_clas,s, alarmed 
by the specter of social- 
ism, his name seemed the 
symbol of order. 

II. CENTRAL EUROPE ' 

IN '48 

'Forty-eight was "the 
year of revolutions." In 
January, Metternich, now 
an old man, wrote to a 
friend, " The w orld is very 
sick. The one thing cer- 
tain is that tremendous 
changes are coming." A 
month later, t he Feb ruary 
rising in J*aris gave the 
signal for March risings in 
other la,nds. Metternich 
fled from Vienna hidden in 

a laundry cart ; and all over Europe thrones tottered — except 
in stable free England on the west, and in stable despotic Russia 
and Turkey on the east. Within a few days, in Holland, Spain, 
Denmark, and Sweden, to save their crowns, the kings granted 
new constitutions and many liberties. In every one of the 
German states, lar^c' or small, the rulers did the like. So, too, 
in Italy in the leading states, — Sardinia, Tuscany, Rome, and 
Naples. In all these countries the administration passed for a 
time to the hands of liberal ministries pledged to reform. 




The 
' March 
days " in 
Central 
Europe 



Louis Napoleon at Boulogne. — This 
painting by Carl Deutsch commemo- 
rates one of Napoleon's ludicrous at- 
tempts to arouse a rebellion in his favor 
during the rule of Louis Philippe. After 
this "invasion," he was kept in prison 
for some years. 



^^v 



486 



CENTRAL EUROPE IN '48 



The Revolu- 
tion in the 
Austrian 
realms 



Race jeal- 
ousies aid 
autocracy 



The Hun- 
garian Re- 
public falls 



A. The Revolution in the Austrian Empire 

March 13, two weeks after the French rising, the students of 
the University of Vienna and the populace of the city rose in 
street riots, calHng for a constitution. The emperor promised 
this and other reforms, and appointed a Hberal ministr\^ 

But the Austrian Empire icas a vast conglomerate. It included 
mam' peoples and several distinct states. The Austrians proper 
were Germans. They made the bulk of the inhabitants in the 
old duchy of Austria, and they were the ruling class elsewhere 
in the Empire. Still they made up less than one fourth of all 
the inhabitants. In Bohemia the bulk of the people were the na- 
tive Slavs (Czechs) ; and in the eastern half of the Empire, the 
Hungarians were dominant. Hungary itself, however, ivas also a 
conglomerate state. In its border districts, the Slav peoples 
(Croats, Serbs, Slavonians) made the larger part of the popula- 
tion. 

In Bohemia and Hungary the March risings were not merely 
for constitutional government but also for Bohemian and Hun- 
garian home rule. The emperor skillfully conciliated both 
states by granting constitutional governments with a large meas- 
ure of home-rule and the official use of their own languages 
(instead of German) ; and then he used the time so gained to 
crush national movements in Italy (pp. 489-490). 

He had no intention, however, of keeping his sworn promises, 
and race jealousy quickly played into his hand. The German Lib- 
erals dreaded Slav rule, especially in Bohemia, where many Ger- 
mans lived. Soon, disturbances there between the two races gave 
the emperor excuse to interfere ; and, in July (the army now 
ready) the emperor replaced the constitution he had just given 
to Bohemia by military rule. Alarmed at this sign of reaction, 
the Radicals rose again in Vienna, and got possession of the 
city (October) ; but the triumphant army (recalled from Bo- 
hemia) captured the capital after a savage bombardment. Then 
absolutism was restored in the central government also. 

Hungary remained to be dealt with. Here, too, race jealous- 
ies aided despotism. The Slavs wanted independence from the 
Hungarians ; and if they had to be subject at all, they preferred 







' I [f ' 



THE FRANKFORT ASSEMBLY 487 

German rule from distant Vienna rather than IIunp:arian rule 
from Budapest. The Hungarians discovered that the emperor 
had been fomenting a rebellion of the Croats against them ; and 
accordingly they declared Hungary a republic, chose the hero 
Kossuth president, and waged a gallant war for full independ- 
ence. But the Tsar in accordance with the compact between 
the monarchs of the Holy Alliance, sent a Russian army of 
150,000 men to aid Austria, and Hungary was crushed (April- 
August, 1849). 

It remained only for Austria to reestablish her authority in 
Germany, which had been left for a time to the Liberals. 

B. In Germany 

Even Prussia in '48 had its scenes of blood and slaughter. The March 

In Berlin, from March 13 to March 18, excited middle-class Revolution 

. .111 Prussia 

crowds thronged the streets ; and on the last of these days, in 

some way never clearly understood, a sharp conflict took place 
with the troops. The army inflicted terrible slaughter on the 
unorganized citizens; but Frederick William IV was neither 
resolutejenQugh norjcold-hearted enough to follow up his victory. 
To pacify the people, he sent into temporary exile his brother 
William, who had commanded the troops ; and he took part 
in a procession in honor of the slain, wearing the red, gold, and 
black colors of the German patriots. Then he called a Prussian 
parliament to draw up a constitution, and declared his purpose 
to put himself at the head of the movement for German na- 
tional union. 

Meantime, a "people's movement" for German unity had The 

got under wav. Early in March, prominent German Liberals Frankfort 
*' ^ Asscmblv 

gathered at Heidelberg and called a German National Assembly ; 

and May 18 at Frankfort the first representative Assembly of 

Germany came together. But unhappily even this gathering 

did not reall y rep resent the whole German people, but only 

a small middle class of "intellectuals." The nobility — with a 

few rare exceptions — held wholly aloof, and the peasantry were 

too slavish to have any sympathy with the movement. 

The Assembly was made up, too, of pedants and theorists, 




488 CENTRAL EUROPE IN '48 

inexperienced in public affairs ; and it wasted six precious 
months in debating a bill of right£_^ while all chance of win- 
ning rights was jHpping .away. Over all Germany the com- 
merciaTclass^was growing hostile, because of the long-continued 
business panic ; and the vacillating Prussian king had dissolved 
the new Prussian parliament he had called — giving to Prussia 
instead jL_ver^^onservative "divine-right" constit^ution. In 
other German states, too, the rulers were overthrowing liberal 
ministries that had been set up in the March days. 

In October, the Frankfort Assembly took up the work of 
making a ??«ii!'o?m/_ constitution. J[t_wrangled through the fall 
and winter (1) as to whether the new Germany should be a re- 
public or a monarchy, and (2) whether it should or should not 
include despotic Austria. Meantime Austria at last got her 
hands free, and announced bluntly that she would permit no 
union into which she did not enter (with all her non-German 
provinces). 
The peoples Then the Radicals gave up the impossible republic, and at last 
jj^jjg the Assembly decided for a consolidated "German Empire," of- 

fering the imperial crown to Frederick William of Prussia. But it 
■""was six months too late. The Prussian king felt a growing aver- 
_sio n to the jnovement which, a few months before, he had called 
"the glorious German revolution"; and, after some hesitation, 
he declined the crown "bespattered with the blood and mire 
of revolution." In despair the Radicals then resorted to arms 
toset up a republic. They were promptl3' crUshgdj._the_Na- 
tional Assembly vanished in the spring of 1849; and many 
German Liberals^ "like Carl Schurz, fled, for their li ves, to 
A merica, The "people's" attempt to make a German nation 
y^^'^ ^ h ad failed. 

The " Hu- ^^ Frederick William then put himself at Jhe head of a half- 
OlmUtz''''^V liearte'd "league" of twenty-eight princes of North Germany. 
Austria insisted^tha^ this league dissolve. Austrian and Prus^ 
sian troops met, but the Prussian army was ill-prepared ; .-^nd 
finally Frederick William made ignominious submission in a 
conference atTHmiitz (November, 1850). Aitstria then restored 
tJfe' Uefmanic Cov federation of 1815. . 



FAILURE OF ITALIAN LIBERALS 489 

C. The Revolution of '48 ix Italy 

Italy had been in fragments for more than thirteen hundred 
years — though there had always been ardent patriots to^Hream 
of a new Italian nation. Napoleon reduced the number of 
petty states somewhat ; and when the European coalition was 
struggling with Napoleon, an English force landed at Genoa, 
with its flag inscribed "Italian Liberty and Independence.' ' 
At the same time Austrian proclamations announced to the 
Italians, "We come to you as liberators. . . . You shall be 
an indepon(l(Mit nation." 

The Congri ss of Menna ignored these promises. Even the Italy and 

Napoleonic iiniH-ovements were undone. Lombard v and Ve- ^ °^' 
._ ^ ^ - " gress of 

netia became Austrian provinces (p. 449), and most of the rest Vienna 
of the peninsula was handed over to Austrian influence. Bour- 
bon rule was restored in the south over the Kingdom of the 
Two Sicilies. Dukes, dependent upon Austria, were set up in 
Tuscany, Modena, and Parma. Between these duchies and 
Naples lay the restored Papal States, with the government in 
close sympathy with Austria. True, the northwest was given 
back to the Kingdom of Sardinia under a native line of mon- 
archs, to whom the people were lo^^ally attached ; but even 
there until 1848 the government was a military despotism. 
"Ita ly/' said Metternich complacently, "is a mere geographical 
expression." 

The stoiy of the Italian revolutions of 1820 and the Holy "Young 
Alliance has been told. In 1830, after the July Revolution *^ 
Jn^Paris, newrevolutions broke out in the Papal States and the 
small duchies, b ut these movements also were soon put down 
by Austria. The ten years from 1830 to 1840, however, did see 
the organization of the widespread secret society, "Young 
Italy," by Mazzini. Mazzi ni was_a lawyer of Genoa and a 
revolutionary enthusiast who was to play, in freeing Italy, a 
j>artjomevdia^ like_t]^^ in preparing 

for the American Civil War. His words and writings worked 
wojiderfully upon the youn^r ItaTFans of the educated classes 
for a united Italian Republic. 

Thus when the revolutions of 1848 broke out, Italy was ready 



490 



ITALY IN '48 



Italian 
revolutions 
in '48 



Defeats at 
Custozza 
and Novara 



to strike. In 1820-1821, the extremities of the peninsula had 
been shaken ; in 1830, the middle states ; jn 1848^ there was 
no foot of Italian soil not convulse d: and thistime the^revolu- 
tionists sought union an ardently a,s freedom. On the news of 
Metternich's flight, Milan and Venice drove out their Austrian 
garrisons. Then Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, gave his 
people a constitution and put himself at the head of a movement 
to expel Austria. The pope and the rulers of Tuscany and 
Naples promised loyal aid. Venice and other small states 

in the north vpted_ enthu- 
siastically for incorporar;_ 
tion into Sardinia^ 

But the king of Naples 
was dishonest in his prom- 
ises ; and even the liberal 
and patriotic pope (Pius 
IX) was not ready to break 
fully with Austria. Ex- 
cept for a few thousand 
volunteer soldiers, Charles 
Albert got no help from 
Ttaly south of Lombardy ; 
^nd, July 15, 1848, he 
was defeated at Custozza. 
Then the movement passed 
into the hands of the 
Radicals. Venice and 
Florence each set up a 
republic ; and in February, 
1849, the citizens of 
Rome, led by Mazzini, drove away the pope and proclaimed 
the "Roman Republic." 

These republican movements succeeded, for the hour, only 
because Austria was busied in Bohemia and Hungary (p. 486). 
But soon a strong Austrian army was sent to Italy. Charles 
Albert took the field once nioreJiut_was defeated decisively 
at Kopara (Marchj,_1849) ; and Venjce_was captured jn^ August 




Joseph Mazzini. 



MAZZINI 491 

after gallant resistance. Louis Napoleon restored the pope to 
his Roman piin(ij)ality, and left a French garrison there for 
his protection (hiiinu th(^ nexTtwenty yearsIToJSTO. 

ButTTijiTike Germany, Italy hadjPailed only because of crush- 
ing interference from without ; and the splendid attempt had 
prorv^ed tHaF" United Italy" had become the passionate faith 
of a whole people. 
Tliis well-grounded faith for^ free Italy, and for a free Europe, 

was finely spoken to the world by Mazzini, with splendid cour- Mazzini's 

-1 PT • IP T\/r -'ii challenge to 

auc, in the very hour oi discouragmg deieat. Mazzmi had victorious 

barely escaped with his life; but in 1849, from his refuge in reaction 

Knulaiid, while less fortunate associates were dying in Italy on 

sratlolds and under tortures in dungeons, he uttered to the ex - 

iiltant forces of reaction a clear-sounding challenge : 

" Our victory is certain ; I declare it with the profoundest 
conviction, here in exile, and precisely when monarchical 
reaction appears most insolently secure. What matters 
the triumph of an hour? What matters it that by con- 
centrating all your means of action, availing yourselves of 
every artifice, turning to your account those prejudices and 
jealousies of race which yet for a while endure, and spread- 
ing distrust, egotism, and corruption, you ha\'e repulsed our 
forces and restored the former order of things ? Can you 
restore men's faith in it, or do you think you can long main- 
tain it by brute force alone, now that all faith in it is ex- 
tinct ? . . . Threatened and undermined on every side, can 
you hold all Europe forever in a state of siege f " 

For Further Reading on 1848. — Hazen's Europe Since 1815, 
152-186. Andrews and Seignobos have good accourifsT Rhillips' 
European History, 1815-1899, is excellent for 1848. 



CHAPTER LII 



The shame 
of France : 
" Napoleon 
the Little ' 



FROM THE YEAR OF REVOLUTIONS TO THE 
FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

Except to the few men of faith, the risings of '48 seemed to 
have been in vain. True, feudahsm was at last gone forever, 
even from Austria, and the Holy Alliance was finally disrupted 
by the rivalry between Prussia and Austria. But in govern- 
ment, the "restoration" appeared complete. The Revolution 
had closed in Italy with No vara (March, 1849), in the Aus- 
trian realms with the fall of the Hungarian Republic (July, 1849), 
and in Germany with the "humiliation of Olmiitz" (November, 
1850). In France it was swiftly going, and was to disappear 
in 1851 (p. 493). For the next generation, interest on the con- 
tinent centered in three lands, — France, Italy, Germany. And 
of these only Italy made true progress. 

I. FRANCE: THE SECOND EMPIRE, 1852-1870 

In 1830 and in 1848, France had led liberal Europe; but 
for the next twenty years after she had crushed so bloodily the 
workingmen of Paris, her story is one of shame. Louis Napo- 
leon, President of the Republic, was constantly at loggerheads 
with the Assembly. From the first, he plotted to overthrow, the 
republican constitution^— to which he. had sworn fidelity — and, 

to make himself master of France^ The Assembly played into 

his hand. In 1849 jt passed a j-eactionary law which disfran- 
chised a large part of the workingmen of the cities.^ jdfy^ ^^f 

law had been passed, Napoleon criticized it yehemently, so as to 
app ear to the workingmen as their champion. At the same 
time, the discontent of the artisansmade the middle class fear 
a revolution; and that class turned to Napoleon as the sole 
hope for order. Thus the chief elements in the state dreaded 
the approaching close of Napoleon's presidency. 

492 



X 
< 




NAPOLEON'S COUP D'ETAT 493 

The constitution forbade a reelection ; and an attempt to The coup 
amend this clause was defeated by the Assembly. Thus that ^ ^^°' 
body had now seriousl}^ offended both the artisan class and the 
middle class, and Napoleon could overthrow^ it with impunity. 
All important offices were put into the hands of his tools and 
his trusted friends ; and^n Drcemher 2, 18o1,he carried out the 
most striking coup d'etat in all French history. 
"^ During the preceding night, some eighty men whose oppo- 
sition W' as especially feared — journalists, generals, and leaders 
in the x\ssembly — w^ere privately arrtstcd and imprisoned ; 
and all the printing offices in tlie city were seized by Napoleon's 
troops. In the morning the amazed people found the city 
posted with startling placards announcing the dissolution of the 
Assembly and the establishment of a new government with 
Napoleon at its head. The Assembly tried to meet, but w^as 
dispersed. During^_the following days a few Radicals began to 
raise barricades here and there in the streets ; but these were 
carried by the troops with pitiless slaughter ; batc_h es of prisoners 
were shot down after surrender ; the Radical districts qfJFrance 
w^ere put under martial law ;^_nd thousands of men were trans- 
ported to penal settlements, virtually without trial. 

_A few days later, the country was invited to vote Yes or No Ratified by 
upon a new constitution making Napoleon president for ten ^^^^® 
years with dictatorial power. France " ratified " this proposal by 
a vote of "seven and a half millions out of eight millions ; and 
in No vember of J|_852j^ a nearlij unanimous vote made the daring 
adventurejiJEm;peroj_of the Fre^^ under the t[t\e N^apoleon III. 
(The Bonapartists counted the son of Napoleon I as Napoleon 
II, though he never reigned.) 

The "Second Empire" was modeled closely upon that of " Elec- 
Napoleon I. During its early years, political life was suspended. *^°JJ^ 
The ^p eople, it is true, elected a^ L egislative Chamber, but that Empire 
body could consider no bill that had not been put before it by 
the Emperor and his Council. Its function was merely to 
register eHicts. 

At the election of a "legislature," too, the government pre- 
sented for every position an "official candidate," for whom 



494 



SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE 



No personal 
liberty 



Napoleon 
accepted by 
France 

Because of 
" pros- 
perity " 



the way was made easy. Opposing candidates could not 
hold .public meetings, nor hire the distribution of circulars. 
They were seriously hampered even in the use of the mails, and 
their placards were torn down by the police, or industriously 
covered by the official bill-poster for the government candidate. 

The ballot boxes, too, were su- 



. ^l?4flj£ .CCAUTlEMilIIRAITV.. 




per vised by the police. More- 
over Napoleon, subsidiised a 
large number of newspapers, 
and suppressed all that were 
unfavorable to him. 

Personal liberty, also, was 
wholly at the mercy of the 
government. The servants of 
prominent men were likely to 
be the paid spies of the police. 
JJnder the "Law of Public 
Security" (1858), Napoleon 
could Icgalhi send "suspects," 
without trial, to linger through 

"France is Tranquil" (a favorite aTslow death in tropical penal 

phrase with Napoleon III). A' , " . / i i i i j • 

cartoon from Harper's Magazine. ^ coloiues. (as he had been doing 

illegally before). 
Still Napoleon seems honestly to have deceived himself into 
the belief that he was "a democratic chief." His government, 
he insisted, rested upon manhood suffrage in elections and 

plebiscites^ In partial recompense for loss of liberty, too, he 

gave to France great material progress. Industry was en- 
couraged. Leading cities were rebuilt upon a more magnificent 
scale ; and Pari s,, with widened streets, shaded boulevards, 
and glorious public buildings, was made the .most beautiful, 
capital in the world. Asylums and hospitals were founded; 
schools were encouraged, and school libraries were established ; 
and vast puWic works throughout the Empire afforded employ- 
mentto the working classes. France secured her full share of 
the increase of wealth and comfort that came to the world so 
rapidly during those years. The shame is that France was 



NEW WARS 495 

bribed to accept the despicable despotism of Napoleon by this 
prosperity — and by the tinsel sham of "glory" in war. 

In 1852 Napoleon had declared, "The Empire is Peace"; And mili- 
but, in order to keep the favor of the army and of the populace ^^^ ^ °^^ 
by reviving the glories of the First Empire, he was impelled to 
war. For forty years, — ever since the fall of Napoleon I, — 
Europe had been free from great wars. Napoleon III rein- 
troduced them, and for a time his victories dazzled France, 
especially in the Crimean and the Italian wars. ^""^ 

1. In 1854 Russia and Turkey were at war in the Black Sea. The 
Through Napoleon's intrigues, France and England joined waTTs^ -6 

Turkey. The struggle was waged mainly in Crimea, and took -.^ ^-- 

its name from that peninsula. ^ Russia was defeated. No im- 
portant permanent results were achieved ; but Napo leon gath- 

ered r epresentatives of all the leading Powers at theCongress 
of Paris to make peace, and France seemed again to have become 
the a rbiter in European politics. 

2. In 1859 Napoleon joined the Kingdom of Sardinia in a war The Italian 
against Austria to free Italy. He won striking victories at- '^ ^^^ 
Magenta and Solferino, near the scene of the early triumphs ^ — 
of the First Napoleon over the same foe, — and then he made 
unexpected peace, to the dismay and wTath of the half-freed 
Italians. For his pay, Napoleon forced Italy jto_cede him the 
provinces of Nice and Savoy (pp. 424, 449). 

But the second half of Napoleon's rule was a series of humilia- Blunders in 
tions and blunders, (ij Napoleonfavored the Southern Con- iater° foreign 
f ederacy Jn the American Civil War, and repeatedly urged policy 
England, in vain, to unite with him in acknowledging it as an 
independent state. (2) In 1863 he entered upon a disastrous 
scheme to overthrow the Mexican Republic and to set up as 
"Emperor of Mexico" his protege, Maximilian, an x\ustrian 
prince, brother of the Austrian Emperor. Napoleon expected 
to secure a larger share of the Mexican trade for France, and to 
forward a union of the Latin peoples of Europe and America, 
under French leadership. His act was a defiance of the Monroe 
Doctrine of the United States, but his purpose seemed trium- 



496 



ITALY IS MADE 



phant until the close of the American Civil War. Then the 
government of the United States demanded the withdrawal of 
the French troops from Mexico. Napoleon was obliged to 
comply. (Soon afterwards Maximilian was overthrown by 
the Mexicans, captured, and shot.) (3) More serious still 
were a number of checks in Napoleon's attempts on the Rhine 
frontier. That storv will be told a little later. 



Victor Em- 
manuel II 



Cavoixr 



II. THE MAKING OF ITALY, 1849-1861 

Meantime Italy had been made. The night after Novara 
(p. 490), Charles Albert abdicated the crown of Sardinia, and his 
son, Victor Emmanuel II, became king. The young prince was an 
intense patriot. A popular story told how, as he rallied his 
shattered regiment at the close of the fatal day of Novara, and 
withdrew sullenly from the bloody field, covering the retreat, 
he shook his clenched fist at the victorious Austrian ranks with 
the solemn vow, — " By the Almighty, my Italy shall yet be ! " 

The new king \yas put at once to a sharp test. His father 
had given to the kingdom a liberal constitution_(p. 490). Aus- 
tria demanded that Victor abolish it. If he would do so, he 
could have easy terms of peace, with Austrian military support 
against any revolt. At the same time the inexperienced Sar- 
dinian parliament was embarrassing him by foolish opposition 
and criticism. Victor Emmanuel nobly refused the Austrian 
bribe, and had to submit to severe terms from Austria and a 
heavy indemnity. But a frank appeal to his people for sup- 
port gave him a new loyal parliament, which ratified the 
peace, and his conduct won him the title of "the Honest King." 

Austria, which Sardinia wished to expel from Italy, had 

37,000^000 people. Sardiniji was poor and had only 5,000,000 

peopl^. The king and his great minister, Cavour, bent all 
energies to strengthening Sardinia for another struggle and to 
securing allies outside Italy. Victor Emmanuel was a soldier. 
Cavour was the statesman whose brain was to guide the mak- 
ing of Italy. The king's part was loyally and steadily to sup- 
port him. Exiles and fugitive Liberals from other Italian states 
w^ere welc omed at the Sa rdinian court and were often given high 



O' cu 



CAVOUR 



497 



office there, so that the government seemed to belong to the whole 
peninsula. Cavour carried through the parHament many social 
reforms ; and, in 1854, he sent a small but excellent Sardinian 
armvto assist the_allies against Russia in the Crimean War 
(p. 495). Many friendly Liberals condemned thisjast act as 
immoral. But Cayour 



at least had a political 
reason. He wished to 
prove that Sardinia 
was a military power, 
and to win a place for 
her in European confer- 
ences. 

At the ( /()n<^rrss of 
Paris in 1856 (p. 495) 
this policy bore fruit. 
Cavour sat there in full 
equality with the rep- 
resentatives of the Great 
Powers ; and, despite 
Austria's protests, he 
secured ..gtttentio n f or a 
convincing statement of 
the 




Cavour. — From Desmaison's lithograph. 



needs of Italy. 
iJpon all minds he impressed forcefully that Italian unrest could 
never cease, nor European peace be secure, so long as Aus^ri:i re- 
mained in the peninsula. 

Three years later this diplomatic game was won. ^As a young 
man, Louis Napoleon had been involved in the plots of 1830 for 
Italian freedom. C^avour now drew him into a secret alliance. 
In return for a pledge of Nice and Savoy, which had once been 
French, Napoleon promised to come to the aid of Sardinia if 
Cavour could provoke Austria into beginning a war. 

Austria played into Cavour 's hand by demanding, as a war 
ultimatum, that Italy reduce her army. Napoleon at once 
entered Italy, declaring his purpose to free it "from the Alps 
to the Adriatic." His victories of Magenta and Solferino 



And the 
Crimean 
War 



Cavour at 
the Con- 
gress of 
Paris 



r 



w 






The French 
aUiance 



Sardinia 
absorbs 
Lombardy 






vto 






»A 



498 



ITALY IS MADE 



Sardinia ab 
sorbs the 
duchies 



(p. 495) drove Austria forever out of Lombardy, which was 
promptly incorporated into Sardinia. This icas the first step in 
~the expansion of Sardinia into Italy. The population of the 
growing state had risen at a stroke from five millions to eight. 
T^enetia remained in Austria's hands, but Napoleon suddenly 
made peace. He had no wish that Italy should be one strong, 
consolidated nation ; and he began to see that a, free Italy would 
be a united Italy. 

The Italians felt that they had been betrayed by "the in- 
famous treaty";^ but more had already been accomplished 
than the mere freeing of Loml)ardy. At the beginning of the. 
war, jlie peoples of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany had driven 
out their dukes (dependents of Austria), and voted for incorpo- 
ration in Sardinia. At the peace. Napoleon had promised Austria 
that the dukes should be restored, but he had stipulated that 
Austria should not use force against the duchies. For eight 
months this situation continued, while Cavour played a second 
delicate diplomatic game with Napoleon, finally persuading 

In March, _1860, 

declared again 

and 



Garibaldi 
adds South 
Italy 



him to leave the matter to a plebiscite. 
the three duchies bv almost unanimous vote 



for annexation. This was the second step in expansion, 
the first example in Europe of "self-determination," as we now 
use the phrase, Sarclinia was enlarged once more by one third. 
It had now become a state of eleven million people. 

The next advance was due in its beginning to Garibaldi (a 
gallant republican soldier in the Revolution of 1848), who had 
now given his allegiance loyally to Victor Emmanuel. In 
May, I860, Garibaldi sailed from Genoa w^th a thousand red- 
shirtjed fellow-adventurers, to arouse rebellion in Sicily. 
Cavour thought it needful to make a show of trying to stop the 
expedition ; but Garibal di landed safely, won Sicily and South 
Italy almost without bloodshed, and, with universal acclaim, 
proclaimed Victor Emmanuel "King of Italy." 

By this third step, "Sardinia" had expanded into "Italy," 
with a population of twenty-two millions. In February of 

1 Read James Russell Lowell's Villafranca, to get an idea of the wrath of 
freedom-loving men at Napoleon's betrayal. 



CAVOUR AND GARIBALDI 



499 



1861 t he first "Italian parliament" met at Turin and enthusias- 
tically confirmed the establishment of the "Kingdom of Italy. "^ 
Cavour's statesmanship was triumphant. Five months later, 
the great minister was 
dead, broken down by the 
terrible strain of his work. 
His last words were, " Italy 
is made — all is safe." 

Rome, with some ad- 
joining territory remained 
the dominion of the pope ; 
and Venetia was still Aus- 
trian. The acquisition 
ofthese two provinces by 
Italy was intertwined with 
the making of Germany. 

For Further Reading. — 
Bolton ^ing^^^^^talian JJnUy 
j^ the best single work, G ood 
accounts will be found in 
Probyn's Italy, Bolton King's 
Mazzini, Dicey's Victor Em- 
manuel, or Cesaresco's Ca- 

vour. Hayes, Hazen, Andrews, Seignobos, all contain brief treat- 
ments. 

Exercise. — Trace the expansion of Sardinia on map facing p. 632. 

Special Report. — Garibaldi's life and adventures. 

III. THE MAKING OF GERMANY, 1861-1871 

Napoleon III ruled France for some twenty years. During William I of 
the first ten years, Cavour made the Kingdom of Italy. Dur- 

1 Joseph Garibaldi (1807-1882) had been active in the plots of secret so- 
cieties against Austrian rule before 1830. When the revolutions of that 
year failed, he escaped to Sout h Am prir a., to fight for liberty in various 
struggles in that continent. 'Forty-eight called him back to Italy, where he 
fought, beside Mazzini, for a Roman republic. Fleeing to New York, he 
earned a living for some years as a candle-maker. He came back to 
Italy to fight for freedom in the war of 1859 and the text tells his famous 
exploit of 18(50. Ten years later he fought for France against_Prussian con- 
guest, (p. 544), and then spent the remaining years of his life on a small 
country estate. The photograph pictures hiru in tliis closing period. 




Garibaldi. 1 



Prussia 



^XfV 



-^/t^ 






x£y 






500 



MAKING OF GERMANY 



The Prus 
sian army 
system 



Neglected, 
1815-1861 



ing the next ten, Bismarck, by far less justifiable methods, was to 
make a German Empire. 

"'Forty-nine" had shown Prussia as the onl^^ nucleus in that 
day for a German nation ; and even from Prussia nothing could 
be expected as long as Frederick William ly reigned. But in 
1861 that king was succeeded by his brother, William I. This 
was the prince who had been banished for a time in 1848 to 
satisfy the Liberals (p. 487). That party had nicknamed him 
"Prince Cartridge." He was a conservative of the old school, 
and he had bitterly opposed the mild constitutional concessions 
of his brother. But he had tingled with indignation at the 
humiliation of Olmiitz ; and he hoped with all his heart for Ger- 
man" unity. He believed that this unity could be made only 
after expelling Austria from Geriiumy. To expel Austria would 
be the work of the Prussian army. 

The Prussian army difl'ered from all others in Europe. Else- 
where the armies were of the old class, — standing bodies of 
mercenaries and professional soldiers, reinforced at need by 
raw levies from the population. The Napoleonic wars had 
resulted in a different system for Prussia. In 1807, after Jena, 
Napoleon had required Prussia to reduce her army to forty- 
two thousand men. The Prussian government, however, had 
evaded Napoleon's purpose to keep her weak, by passing fresh 
bodies of Prussians through the regiments at short intervals. 
Each soldier was given only two years' service. Part of each 
regiment was dismissed each year and its place filled with 
new levies. These in turn took on regular military discipline, 
while those who had passed out were held as a reserve. 

.After the Napoleonic wars, Prussia kept up this system. 
The plan was to make the entire male population a trained 
army, but it had not been fully followed up. Since 1815, 
population had doubled, but the army had been left upon the 
basis of that period. No arrangements had been made for or- 
ganizing new regiments ; and so many thousand men each year 
reached military age without being summoned to the ranks. 

King William's first efforts were directed to increasing the 
number of regiments so as to accommodate 60,000 new recruits 



WILLIAM 1 AND BLSMARCK 501 

each year. To do this required a large increase in taxes. But 
the Prussian parliament (Landtag) was jealous of military power 
in the ha nds of a sovereign hostile to constitutional liberty, 
and it r esolutely nfused money. Then William found a min- 
^^'^^Ut^-^^^^ P^this will, parliament or no. 

This man, who was to be the German Cavour, was Otto von Otto von 
BismarcF. Thirteen years earlier, Count Bismarck had been 
known as a grim and violent leader of the "Junkers," the ex- 
treme conser\'ative party made up of young landed aristocrats. 
When he was announced as the head of a new ministry, the 
Liberals ominously prophesied a coup d'etat. Something like a 
coup d'etat did take place. William stood steadfastly b}^ his 
minister ; and for four years Bismarck ruled and collected taxes 
unconstitutionally. Over and over again, the Landtag de- The anny 
manded his dismissal, and the Liberals threatened to hang '■^organized 
him, — as very probably they would have done if power had 
fallen to them by another revolution. Bismarck in turn railed 
at them contemptuously as "mere pedants," and told them 
bluntly that the making of Germany was to be "a matter not 
of speechifying and parliamentary majorities, but of blood and 
iron." For years he grimly went on, muzzling the press, 
bullying or dissolving parliaments, and overriding the national 
will roughshod. 

Meantime, ^e army was greatly augmented, so that practi- 
cally every able-bodied Prussian became a soldier with three 
years' training in camp. First of any large army, too, this new 
Prussian army was supplied with the new invention of breech- 
'ioading repeating rifles^ instead of the old-fashioned muzzle- 
loaders ; and Von Moltke, the Prussian "chief of staff," made it 
jthe most perfect military machine in Europe. 

From the first, Bismarck intended that this reconstructed Bismarck's 
army should expel Austria from Germany and force the princes ^^ ^^^J 
of the rest of Germany into a true national union. It had not 
been possible for him to avoiv his purpose ; but time was growing 
precious, and he began to look anxiously for a chance to use his 
new tool. By a series of master-strokes of unscrupulous and dar- 
ing diplomacy, he brought on three wars in the next seven years. 



502 



MAKING OF GERMANY 



The Danish 
War of 1864 



The War 
with Austria 
(Six Weeks' 
War) in 
1866 



m^.lo 



The Franco- 
Prussian 
War, 1870-1 



^r^ 



1. Taking advantage of an obscure dispute, he induced Aus- 
tria to join in seizing from Denmark the duchies of Sleswig and 
Holstein — to which neither robber state had the shadow of a 
claim. 

2. He then forced Austria into war by insisting brazenly 
upon keeping all the booty for Prussia t^ although the German 
Diet almost unanimously declared war against Prussia as "the 

wanton disturber of the national peace^l! J n three days the 

Prussian arm\' seized Hanover, Hesse, and Saxony, and in three 
weeks it crushed Austria at Sadowa in Bohemia. Prussia then 
consolidated her scattered territory by annexing Hesse, Hanover, 
Nassau, and Frankfort, along with Sleswig-Holstein. This 
raised her population to 30,000,000 (cf. maps after pp. 402, 502). 
Moreover, Austria was compelled to withdraw wholly from 
German affairs — in which Prussia was left without a rival — 
and the Confederation of 1815 was replaced by two federation^. 
The first was the North German Confederation — not a loose 
league but a true federal state with much the same constitution 
as the later German P^mpire. The secoiid was made up of four 
South German states (Bavaria and Wiirttemberg the principal 
ones), organized like the old Confederation — of which indeed 
it was a survival. 

3. To fuse these two German leagues into one was the main 
purpose of Bismarck's third war. Before both the preceding 
struggles Bismarck had tricked Louis Napoleon into giving him 
a free hand — allowing Napoleon " to deceive himself" with the 
expectation that Prussia would permit France to annex Rhine 
territory in compensation for Prussia's gains. Napoleon now 
wrote to Bismarck, ^suggesting that France annex part of 
Bavaria. Bismarck was already planning war with France, 
and this proposal delivered Napoleon into his hands. He 
revealed it privately to the South German states, and it terrified 
Ufem into a secret alliance with Prussia. Then Bismarck hurried 
on the clash with France with characteristic craft, not hesitating 
even to use practical forgery.^ 

After all, however, Bismarck's trickery succeeded only be- 
^ See the story in some detail in West's Modern Progress, 420-1. 



"BLOOD AND IRON" 503 

cause of the folly and envy of the rulers of France. French 
militarisin_loc)ked with jealousy upon the rise of a German na- 
tion ; and Napoleon was bent desperately upon retrieving his 
tottering reputation by dazzling victories. Thus Bismarck 
found it possible to irritate the French government into declar- 
"ing war (July 19, 1870). 

True, a few French statesmen had kept their heads, declaring The arro- 

that France was not readv for war. But Napoleon's war-min- P"£® *^^ 

"^•111 ^nr . inefficiency 

ister answered such objections by the boast, We are thrice of Napo- 

ready, down to the last soldier's shoestring" ; and France, which ^®°^ ^ s°^' 
for centuries had never been beaten h^yne foe, shouted light- 
heartedly, "On to Berlin." The first attempts to move troops, 
however, showed that the French government w^as honey- 
combed^ with corruption and inefficiency, - — \ '' 

Marked, indeed, was the contrast between this French iny "German 
^fhciency and the " German efficiency," now revealed to Europet surorises 
Twelve days after the declaration of war (Auiiust 1), GermanyX the world 
had massed one and a quarter million of trained troops on the 
Rhine. The world then had never seen such perfection of mili- 
tary preparation. Caflyle wrote, "It took away the breath of 
Europe." The Prussians won victory after victory. One of 
*tlie fwo main Trench armies; — 173,000 men— was securely 
shut up jn il/cfe; September 2, the other, of 130,000 men, was 
captured at Sedan, with Napoleon in person ; ^ and the Prussians 
pressed on to the siege of Paris. 

Out of the war clouds emerged a new German Empire. In The German 
the preceding war, after Sadowa, Bismarck suddenly found °^P^^® 
himself the idol of the Prussian Liberals who had been reviling 
and opposing him. When military autocracy had apparently 
proved profitable, they abandoned their old opposition to it. 
So now^ all Germany. The South-German peoples went wild 
jwith enthusiasm for Prussia. By a series of swift treaties, while 
this f eeling was at its height, Bismarck brought them all into the 
North Ger man Confederation. Then he arranged that the king 
of Bavaria and other leading German rulers should ask King 

1 Napoleon remained a prisoner of war for a few months, and soon after- 
ward died in England. 



PAET XIII - ENGLAND, 1815-1914; 
WITHOUT EEVOLUTION 



REFOKM 



England in thu nineteenth century served as a political model for Europe. 
The English developed constitutional monarchy, parliamentary government , 
and safeguards fur personal liberty. Other nations have only imitated 
them. — Seignobos. 



CHAPTER LIII 



Political 
retrogres- 
sion of the 
eighteenth 
century 



" Virtual 
representa- 
tion " 



THE "FIRST REFORM BILL," 1832 

In the eighteenth century, we have seen, England acquired a 
world-empire and gave the world the Industrial Revolution. 
But, in political matters, that century was singularly uninterest- 
ing. Except for accidental progress in the matter of ministerial 
government (p. 383 ff.), England actually went backward 
politically. Parliament had never been democratic in make-up, 
and, after 16SS, it shriveled up into the selfish organ of a small 
class of landlords. 

Ireland sent 100 members to the House of Commons, and 
Scotland 45. Each of the 40 English counties, large or small, 
^ent two. The remaining four hundred came from "parlia- 
mentary boroughs" in England and Wales. The old kings had 
summ ned representatives from whatever boroughs they 
pleased ; but a borough which had once sent representatives 
had the right, by custom, to send them always afterward. At 
first the power to "summon" new boroughs was used wisely to 
recognize new towns as they grew up. But the Tudor monarchs, 
in order better to manage parliaments, had summoned repre- 
sentatives from many little hamlets — " pocket boroughs, '* 
owned or controlled by some lord of the court party. 

506 



> 

XI 
XI 
XI 

< 

PL, 




EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CONDITIONS 507 

This had condition was made worse by natural causes. In Eliza- Unrepre- 
beth's time the south of England, with its fertile soil and its sented cities 
jportsjon^ the Channel, had been the most populous part; but 
in the eighteenth century, with the growth of manufactures, 
population sliifted to the coal and iron regions of the north and 
west, where great cities grew up, like Birmingham, Bradford, 
Leeds^Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield. And these ?iei^ towns 
had no representation in Parliament. 

Conditions had become unspeakably unfair and corrupt. And repre- 
Dunwich was under the waves of the North Sea, which had ^^" ^ ^"^"^ 
gradually encroached upon the land. But a descendant of an 
ancient owner of the soil possessed the right to row out with 
the sheriff on election da\' and choose himself as representative 
to Parliament for the submerged town. Old Sarum was once a 
cathedral city on the summit of a lofty hill ; but new Sarum, 
or Salisbury, a few miles away on the plain, drew the population 
and the cathedral to itself until not a vestige of the old town 
remained. Then the grandfather of William Pitt bought the 
soil where Old Sarum had stood, and it was for this "pocket 
borough" tli^at the great Pitt entered Parliament. So, Gatton 
was a park, and Corfe Castle a picturesque ruin, — each with 
a representative in Parliament. Bosseney in Cornwall had 
three cottages. It had, however, nine voters, eight of them in 
one family ; and these voters elected two members to Parlia- 
ment. On the other hand, Portsmouth, with 46,000 people, 
had only 103 voters. 

J.n the many small_^'_pocket boroughs," the few voters, de- "Pocket 
pendent ..upoa. a neighboring landlord, always elected his boroughs" 
nomin ee. Large places had sometimes a like character. In 
1828, at Newark, the Duke of Newcastle drove out 587 tenants 
who had ventured to vote against his candidate. {" Have I not 
a right, " said he, " to do what I like with my own ? ") So the 
Duke of Norfolk filled eleven seats ; and Jully two thirds of 
the whole House of Commons were really the appointees of 
great landlords. 

Many other places were "rotten boroughs." That is, the "Rotten 
few voters sold the seats in Parliament as a regular part ojLt.heir^, boroughs " 



508 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



private revenue. In 1766 Sudbury advertised in the public 



Reform 
checked by 
foreign war, 
1689-1815 



press that its parliamentary seat was for sale to the highest bid- 
der. Moreover, all voting was viva-voce, and the polls were 
held open for two weeks — so that there was every chance to 
sell and buy votes. 

The House of Commons had become hardly more represent- 
ative than the House of Lords. As the English historian Ma- 
caulay sai(l,^e "boasted representative system" of England 
had decayed into "a monstrous system of represented ruins 




Canvassing for Votes in " Guzzledown." — This is Number 2 in 
Hogarth's " Humors of a Country Election." Cf. cut opposite. 

and unrepresented cities." The reason why no reform had been 
secured was that from 1689 to 1815 all energies went to the long 
French wars. In the twelve years (1763-1775), between the 
"Seven Years' War" and the American Revolution, the Whig 
George III \ leaders, like William Pitt, did attempt wise changes. But 
George III was determined to prevent reform. He felt that his 
two indolent and gross predecessors had allowed kingly power 
to slip from their hands (p. 384). He meant to get it back, 
and to " be a king " in fact as well as in name, as his mother had 



opposes re- 
form 



PLATE LXXXVIII 



i|\^'V| 


'" ■ ' :'\ ;^ 


r 




''^^'^^^^^^HHHI 




*t. ^ 


1^ 




^^^^^m^' 


S8 


^■^^ 


"Nh^^^fc 




^*^^^ 


& 


4^ ""'"' 


*- ■..■■■';." -^. 


^^^ 


^ 










^; ■"' \ 


1 *;s i«i 


.. 


V: 


-f^ 




l^^n 


^^ 




Si 


jj^ 


1 


^gH 


i 

FT 


^-'ji ^ 




^a 




m- 



HuMOKs OF A Country Election, — the third of a series of four plates 
of that name by Hogarth (plate after p. 384) in 1755, just after a bitterly 
contested election. The present scene represents the polling at a late 
stage. The English franchise was as fantastic as it was limited, — com- 
plicated by ancient customs. (Thus Weymouth, with only a few score 
voters in all, had twenty, some of them paupers, whose right came from 
a claim to share in a sixpence part of the rent of some ancient \dllage 
property !) The blind and maimed from the almshouse are being brought 
to the polls. The voter in the foreground is plainly an imbecile and un- 
able to walk. Over his shoulder the man in a cocked hat and laces is 
trying to recall to him the name of his candidate. Somewhat in the back- 
ground we have a symbolic representation of Britannia in her broken- 
down coach of state, helpless, while coachman and footman gamble at 
cards. 

With all this keen satire, Hogarth was a true lover of beauty. This 
plate, spite of its ugly theme, has a lovely setting and many gracious lines. 



EARLY REFORM AGITATION 509 

urged him. To do this, he must be able to control ParHament. 
It would be easier to control it as it was then, than to control 
a Parliament that really represented the nation. 

And therefore, when just at this time the Americans began to Relation to 
cry, " No taxation without representation," King George felt canRTvolu 
it needful to put them down. If their claim were allowed, so tion 
must be the demand of Manchester and other new towns in 
England for representation in Parliament. But if the American 
demand could be made to seem a treasonable one, on the part 
of a distant group of rebels, then the king could check the move- 
ment in England. 

The American victory seemed at first to have won victory for 
English freedom also. Even before peace was declared, the 
younger Pitt asserted vehemently : Parliament " is not repre- 
sentative of the people of Great Britain ; it is representative of 
nominal boroughs, and exterminated towns, of noble families, 
of wealthy individuals." This condition, he declared, alone 
had made it possible for the government to wage against America Reform 

"this unjust, cruel, wicked, and diabolical war." In the v^ears checked by 
*' / , , " hatred for 

that immediately followed the war, Pitt introduced three differ- the French 
ent bills for reform. But, before anything was accomplished, ^^^o^^tion 
came the French Revolution ; and soon the violence of the Rev- 
olutionists in France turned the whole English middle class defi- 
nitely against change — and projects for reform slumbered for 
forty years more (1790-1830). This unhappy check came just 
when the evils of the Industrial Revolution were becoming 
serious. But the Tor^jparty, which carried England stubbornly 
to victory through the tremendous wars against Napoleon, was 
totally unfitted to cope with internal questions, and looked on every 
time-sanctioned abuse as sacred. 

The peace of 1815 was followed by a general business depres- Tory reac- 

sion, — the first modern "panic. " Large parts of the working tjo^ after 

*^® Napo- 
classes had no work and no food. This resulted in labor riots iconic wars 

and in political agitation. The Tory government met such 

movements by stern laws, forbidding public meetings (without 

consent of magistrates) under penalty of death; suspending 



510 ENGLAND, 1815-1914 

habeas corpus (for the last time in England until the World 

War) ; and suppressing debating societies. 

Some early The year 1821 marks the beginning of slow gains for reform. 

reform jjj 1825 Parliament recognized the right of workingmen to unite 

movements -r— ;' , . i-iiiiir. i i' 

m labor unions — which had always before been treated as 

conspiracies. In 1828 political rights were restored to Protes- 
tant jiissenters (Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists) ; and the 
^next year the same justice was secured for Catholics. The 
atrocious laws regarding capital punishment, too, were modified 
by striking the death penalty from 100 offenses.^ 
Struggle for Then, in 1830, George IV was succeeded by his brother Wil- 
Ury'reform ^^^"^ ^^ ' ^ rnore liberal-minded king ; and the French Revor 
begins in lution of the same year, by its moderation and by its success, 
strengthened the reform party in England. A new Parliament 
was at once chosen ; and the Whigs promptly introduced a 
motion to reform the representation. The prime minister was 
the Tory Wellington, the hero of Waterloo. He scorned the 
proposal, declaring that he did not believe the existing represen- 
Fall of tation "could be improved"! This speech cost him his popu- 

larity, both in and out of Parliament ; and the Whigs came 
dl^j^hX^ (■' *tJ Jnto power with Earl Grey as prime minister, and with Lord 
John Russell as leader in the Commons.^ 
The Whig I/ord Russell drew a moderate bill for the reform of Parlia- 

ment. Representation icas to be distributed somewhat more fairly 
by^taking about 100 members away from rotten or pocket 
borou ghs and assigning them to new places that needed repre- 
sentation ; and the suffrage was extended to all householders in 
the towns who owned or rented houses worth £50 a year, and to 
all "farmers" (p. 535). (Farm laborers were left out; as were 

^ The English penal code of the eighteenth century has been fitly called 
a "sanguinary chaos." Whenever in the course of centuries a crime had 
become especially troublesome, some Parliament had fixed a death penalty 
for it, and no later Parliament had ever re\'ised the code. In 1660 the 
number of "capital crimes" was fifty (three and a half times as many as 
there were in New England at the same time under the much slandered 
"blue laws"), and by 1800 the number had risen to over two hundred. To 
steal a sheep, to snatch a handkerchief out of a woman's hand, to cut down 
trees in an orchard, were all punishable by death. 

^ Russell was the son of a duke, and his title of Lord at this time was only 
a "courtesv title." 



THE FIRST REFORM BILL 511 

the t own artisanj ^fass, living as its members did in tenements 

or as lodgers.) 

To the Tories this mild measure seemed to threaten, the foun- The king 

dations of society. Fierce debates lasted month after month. -^^''^f^/° . 
"^ . . . . yield to his 

In March of 1831 the ministry carried the "second reading" Ministers 
by a majority of one vote. It was plain that the Whig majority 
was not large enough to save the bill from hostile amendment. 
(A bill has to pass three " readings," and amendments are usually 
considered after the second.) The ministry decided to dissolve, 
and "appeal to the country" for better support. The king 
was bitterly opposed to this plan. A passionate sccik^ took 
place between him and his ministers, but he was forced to give 
way 7- and so, incidentally, it was settled that tlie ministry, 
not the king, dissolves Parliament, {This mcdiis that Parlia- 
ment really dissolves itself.) <. ^ a 

The Whigs went into the new campaign with the cry, " The Lords and 
Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." Despite the un- 
representative nature of Parliament, they won an overwhelm- 
ing majority. In June Lord Russell introduced the bill again. 
In September it passed the Commons, 345 to 239. Then the 
Lords calmly voted it down. One session of the second Parlia- 
ment was wasted. The nation cried out passionately^ against 
the House of Lords. ^JZhere-^was- much violtiuc, and England 
seemed on the verge of revolution. 

In December the same Parliament met for a new session. 
Lord Russell introduced the same bill for the third time. It 

passed the Commons by an increased majority. This time the ^ 

Lords did not venture altogether to throw it out, but they tacked 
on hostile amendments. The king had always had power to The 
make new peers at will. Lord Grey now demanded from the 
king authority to create enough new peers to save the bill. Wil- 
liam refused. Grey__resi^gned^ For eleven days England had 
jio government. The Tories tried to form a ministry, but could 
get no majority. Angry mobs stormed about the king's carriage 
in the streets, and the Whig )e^,<; lprs wpnt so fnr as seCTCtly t.Q- 
prepare for civil war. 

Finally the king recalled the Whig ministry. He was still 



Eleven 
Days " 



512 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



The Lords 
become an 
inferior 
house 



unwilling to create new peers, but he offered to use his personal 
influence to get the upper House to pass the bill. Happily, Earl 
Grey was firm to show where real sovereignty lay ; and the king 
was compelled to sign the paper (still exhibited in the BritisH 
Museum) on which the earl had WTitten, "The King grants 
permission to Earl Grey ... to create such a number of new 
peers as will insure the passage of the Reform Bill." This ended 
the struggle. It was not needful actually to make new peers. 
The Tory lords withdrew from the sessions, and the bill passed, 
June 4, 1832. 



The 

" king's 
ministers " 
become the 
nations ex 
ecutive 

Excursus 
on minis- 
terial gov- 
ernment 



Incidentally the long contest had settled two points in the 
constitution : 

It had shown hoic the Commons could control the Lords. 

It had showiiThat the ministers are not the king's ministry, except 
in name, hut that they are really the ministry, or servants, of the 
House of Commons. This principle has never since been threat- 
ened. The king acts only through the ministers. Even the 
speech he reads at the opening of Parliament is written for him. 

The way in which a change in ministry is brought about should 
be clearly understood. If the ministry is outvoted on any 
matter of importance, it must resign. If it does not do so, and 
claims to be in doubt whether it has really lost its majority, 
its opponents will test the matter by moving a vote of "lack 
of confidence." If this carries, the ministry takes it as a man- 
date to resign. There is only one alternative : If the ministry 
believes that the nation will support it, it may dissolve Parlia- 
ment, and "appeal to the countr^\" If the new Parliament 
gives it a majority, it may go on. If not, it must at once give 
way to a new ministry. 

Info r m, the new ministry is chosen by the king ; but in reality, 
he simply names those whom the will of the majority in the Com- 
m ons ha s plainly pointed out. Indeed, he names only one man^ 
whom he asks to "form a government." This man becomes 
'prime minister, and selects the other ministers.__In a parlia- 
mentary election. Englishmen really vote also for the next prime 
minister, just as truly, and about as directly, as we in this country 



MINISTERIAL GOVERNMENT 513 

vote for our President. If the king asks any one else to form 
a ministry hut the man whom the Commons have accepted 
as their leader, probably the man asked will respectfully de- 
cline. If he tries to act, he will fail to get other strong men 
to join him, and his ministry will at once fail. If there is any 
real uncertainty as to which one of several men is leader, the 
matter is settled by conference among the leaders, and the new 
ministry, of course, includes all of them. 

A curious feature to an^ American student is that all tliis com- 
plex procedure rests only on cz^^iom;^ nowhere on a written 
constitution. Each member of the Cabinet is the head of some 
great department — Foreign Affairs, Treasury, War, and so on. 
The leading assistants in all these departments — sojne forty 
people now — are included in the ministry. About twenty 
oFtlie forty, — holding the chief positions, — make the inner 
circle which is called the Cabinet. The Cahinrf is really ''the 
Government," and is often referred to by that^ title. It is the 
real executive; and it is also the "steering committee'' of the legis- 
lature. In their private meetings the members of the Cabinet 
decide upon general policy. In Parliament they introduce bills 
and advoca te them. As ministers, tlicy carry out the plans 
agreed upon. In these changes, the Icing's veto has disappeared. 
The last veto was by Queen Anne in 1707. 

Thus we have two types of democratic government in the 
world, both developed by English-speaking peoples. They 
differ from each other mainly in regard to the executive. In the 
JJnited States,. the executive is a president, or governor, inde- 
pendcnt of the legislature. The other republics upon this con- 
tinent have adopted this American type. In England, the 
executive has become practically a steering committee of the 
legislature. This type is the one adopted by most of the free 
governments of the world outside America. 

For Further Reading. — The most brilliant story is Justin 
McC arthy's Epo ch of Reform,, 25-83. Rose's Rise of Democracy, 9-52, 
is excellent. ~ 



CHAPTER LIV 




English 
politics 



REFORM IN THE VICTORIAN AGE 

In 1837 W illiam IV was_succeeded by his niece, Victoria, whose 
reign filled the next sixty-four years. Victoria . came to the 
throne a modest, high-minded girl of eighteen years. She was 
not brilliant, but she grew into a worthy, sensible woman, of ex- 
cellent moral influence. (In. 18^0 she jnarried Albert, the ruler 
of a small German principality ; and their happy and lovely 
family life was an example new to European courts for gener- 
ations.}^ The remaining two thirds of the century was, for all 
the world, an era of prosperity, intellectual glory and moral 
refinement, democratic progress and social reform, and vast 
expansion of civilization. In all this advance, England held 
a first place. 

The Reform Bill of 1832 had given the vote to one out of six 
grow n me n (five times as liberal as the French franchise after 
the Revolution of 1830) . Political power had passed from a 
narro w lan ded o ligarchy to a broad middle-class aristocracy. 
Political parties soon took new names. "Conservative" began 
to repla ce "Tory," an d ''Liberal" replaced "Whi^' From 
1832 to 1874, except for short inter\'als, the Liberals were in 
power, carrym^ a lo ng list of social reforms. Finally the Con- 
servatives, too, adopted a liberal policy toward social reform, 
and secured longer leases of power. The following table of ad- 
ministrations will be convenient for reference : 



Table of 

administra- 1830-34 

tions 1834-35 

1835-41 

1841-46 




1846-52 



Liberals 
Russell 



jConserv- 
' atives 



1852 *. Derby 

f (1) Aberdeer^' 
■1852-58 < ' ' , 

[ (2) Palmerstcn 

1858-59 - Derby 



514 



X! 

X 
X 
X 

H 




A CENTURY OF REFORM 



515 



1859-66 

1866-68 

1868-74 



1892-95 



1895-1906 



1906 



Conserv- 
Liherals atives 

|(1) Salisbury 
■ \ (2) Balfour 
f Campbell-Bannerman 
\Asquitli (to 1915) 
[1915-1918 A coalition war-ministry, 

led by Lloyd George] 
1919-1922 A coalition ministry, 
mainly Conservatives, 
led by Lloyd George 
1922 Bonar Law 



Disraeli and 
Gladstone 



Conserv- 
Liherals olivet 

(1) Palmerston 

(2) Russell 

Derby 

Gladstone 

1874-80 Disraeli 

1880-85 . Gladstone 

1885-86 Salisbury 

1886 . . Gladstone 

1886-92 .\ Salisbury 

(1) Gladstone 

(2) Roseb^ry - 



The man who did most to educate the Conservatives into 
this new attitude was the Jew, Disraeli. He was an author, 
a brilUant genius, and a shrewd poHtician. Some critics called 
him " a Conservative with Radical opinions," while others in- 
sisted that he had no principles in politics. 

An even more important political figure was Disraeli's great . 
adversary, William E. Gladstone. Gladstone entered Parlia- 
ment in 1833, at the first election after the Reform Bill, and 
soon proved himself a powerful orator and a master of debate. 
He was then an extreme Tory. By degrees he grew Liberal, 
and thirty years later he succeeded Lord Russell as the unchal- 
lenged "leader "of that party. For thirty years more he held 
tliat place — four times prime minister. His early friends ac- 
cused him bitterly as treacherous; but the world at large 
accepted his own simple explanation of his changes, — "I was 
brought up to distrust liberty ; I learned to believe in it. " 

I. POLITICAL REFORM 

TheTories at once accepted the result of 1832, as the Conservative Working- 
party in England always does when a new reform has once been ^Qj^tg^t 
forced upon them. But they planted themselves upon it as a final- after 1832 
ity. Even the Whigs agreed for many years in this "finality" 
view so far as political reform was concerned. A few eager 
Radicals in Parliament for a time kept up a cry for a more lib- 
eral franchise, but soon even they gave up the contest, to take 
part in the great social legislation of the period. 



/^ 



516 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



The trade- 
union move 
ment 



The 

Chartist 
igita^on 






True, the masses of working men knew that the victory of 1832 
had been won largely by their sympathy and public demon- 
strations, and they felt that they had been cheated of the fruits.^ 
This class continued restless ; but they lacked leadership, and, 
in ordinary times, their claims secured little attention. At 
first, they turned to trade unions, and sought to get })etter wages 
and shorter hours by strikes. But employers united, dismissed 
all union workmen, and, aided by the conservative courts, 
stamped out the movement for many years. A strike by a 
union the courts held a "conspiracy," and in 1837 they trans- 
ported six labor leaders to the Australian penal settlements. 

Then the Radicals turned again to politics. There were two 
jnarked periods of agitation at intervals of nearly twenty years, 
— just before 1848 and again before 1867. The earlier is the 
famous ('hd/iisf movement. Even before the First Reform Bill, 
there had been an extensive agitation for a more radical change, 
and the extremists had fixed upon six points to struggle for : 
(1) manhood suffrage, (2) equal electoral districts, (3) abolition 
of all property qualification for membership in Parliament, 
J4) payment of innnbers, (5) the ballot, and (6) annual elections. 
In 1837 the, Radicals renewed their agitation, and these "Six 
Points" were embodied in a proposed Charter.^ Five of them 
have since become law, and the sixth is no longer of any con- 
sequence; but to the ordinary Liberal of 1840 these demands 
seemed to preKidFTevoTution and anarchy. 

'Forty-eight" was the critical year. The Chartists adopted 
a re solution, " All labor shall cease until the people's Charter 
becomes the law of the land." But this first attempt at a 
"general strike" for political purposes, along with accom- 
panying plans for monster petitions and processions, fizzled 
out, with no. disturbance that called for anything more than 
a few extra policemen. The_^ear of revolutions" left Eng- 
land unmoved, and the Chartist movement died. 

The jiext agitation took its rise from the suffering of the un- 
employed while the American Civil War cut off the supply o7 
cotton for English factories, and it was strengthened by the 

* There is an admirable treatment in Rose's Rise of Democracy, ch. ii. 



THE SECOND REFORM BILL 517 

victory of the democratic North in that war over the aristo- The Second 
era tic South. This time no one dreamed of force. The Lib- Reform 
erals, under Russell, introduced a reform measure, but lost power England a 
because they did not go far enough. Then, said Disraeli, cyni- democracy 
cally, " If tlie country is bound to have reform, we might as 
well give it to them" — and stay in office. Thus the " Srmnd 
Reform BilV (passed in 1867 by a Conservative ministry') ex- ^^2ijt!±^:;^ 
tended tlie franchise to the artisan class (all householders and 
all lofhicr.s' who paid Teh pounds a year for their rooms). This 
raised the number of voters to over fhn'<' m/llio/is, or to some- 
'thing- ovvY half tlie adult miilv population. The unskilled la- 
borers in^town^nd country, and the male house-servants, still 
had no votes ; but England had taken a tremendous step to- 
w^ard de mocracy . 

Thi^ victory of 1867, like that of 1832, was followed by a 
period of _ sweeping legislation for social reform, — mainly in 
Gladstone's Liberal ministry^ LS68-1874 (p. 523). Then, after 
a Conservative ministry, led by Disraeli and chiefly concerned 
with foreign matters (p. 523 ), Glad stone took office again, and The Third 

the "Third Reform Bill" (18841 in large measure enfranchised 5.tf°'?o 
^- -'"',■ ' Bill, loo^ 

the unskilled laborer and the servant cla ss. Th is raised the 

electorate to over six millions, and ^(except for unmarried sons 
without property, living in the father's family, and for laborers 
living in very cheap houses) it gave \ otts to practically all self- 
supporting men, leaving out only about one seventh the adult 
males. The next year^_ Parliament did away w^ith the chief 
remainmg inequalities in representation by dividing England 
into parli anie ntary d istricts, like our congressional districts. 

Three other reforms in this period made English poHtics clean 
and honest. 

In 187 the secret ballot was introduced. The form adopted other re- 
was the excellent one known as the Australian ballot, from its ^°''!°.^ ^° 
use in Victoria. (Most of the States of our Union have since 
then adopted the same model.) 

Between 1855 and 1870^ th^^ q i,'^il sprm'r.p. was thoroughly reformed. 
In earlier years, public offices had been given to reward political 



518 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



/Local 

/ government 

I reform 



Reform in 
town gov- 
ernment be- 
gins in 1835 



Parish. Dis- 
trict, and 
County 
Councils 



partisans, in as disgraceful a degree as ever marked American 
politics. But since 1870, appointments have always been made 
after competitive examinations, and there has been no removal 
of appointed officials for party reasons. 

Bribery in elections, direct and also indirect, was effectively checked 
by the ''Corrupt Practices Prevention Act" of 1883, drawn along 
lines more recently adopted in the United States. 

The extension of the franchise in the "Reform" bills applied 
only to parliamentary elections. But local government also 
called for reform. It had been highly aristocratic. It was 
not centralized, as in France ; but each rural unit (county or 
parish) was in the hands of the local aristocracy, while the town 
government (usually vested in a self -elected mayor and council, 
holding office for life) had become exceedingly selfish and 
corrupt and had proved wholly indifferent to the pressing needs 
of the growing city populations. But in 1835 a Municipal Re- 
form Bill provided that 183 })oroughs (indicated by name) should 
^ch have a municipal council elected by all who paid local taxes. 
The Lords went wild with dismay at this "gigantic innovation," 
and by votes of 6 to 1 , they amended nearly every clause in the 
bill so as to make it worthless. The Commons refused the 
amendments; and after a four months' struggle the Lords 
yielded. From time to time, new towns were added to the list ; 
and finally, in 1882, it was provided that any towm might adopt 
this form of gbvernrnent for itself. Since 1835, English town 
government has been honest, efficient, and enlightened, — a 
model to all other democratic countries. The best citizens 
serve in the town councils. The appointed officials, like the 
city engineer, city health ofl[icer, and so on, are men of high 
professional standing, who are never appointed or removed 
for political purposes. 

In the rural units the rule of the country gentry had been 
free from corruption, and it lasted until the latter part of the 
century. It had not been particularly enlightened, however, 
and inJ88^ and 1894 the County Council Bill and the Parish 
Councils Bill made local government thoroughly democratic. (1) The 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM 



519 



parish has a primary assembly {parish meeting). (2) Parishes 
"with more than three hundred people have also an elective Parish 
Council. (3) Larger sub- 
divisions of the county, 
Ivnown as Districts, have 
elective District Councils. 
And (4) at the top is the 
elective County Council. 
The powers of all these 
local bodies are very 
great. 

For Further Reading. 
— On the Second and Third 
Reform Bills, interesting 
treatments are to be found 
in Hazen, Rose, McCarthy's 
History of Our Own Times, 
and in the younger Mc- 
Carthy's England under 
Gladstone. Beard's English 
Historians, 566-581 and 582- 
593, is admirable. On the 
Chartists, Rose, 84-146 ; 
Hazen, 446-450. 

IL SOCIAL REFORM 




Queen Victoria, late in life. 



The third^es_jKere_ajieriod of humanitarian agitation, as well Social re- 
as of democratic advance. Charles Dickens wrote his moving r!™^^"^ 
stories of the abuses in the courts, the schools, the factories, First Re- 
the shops. Carlyle thundered against injustice, in Chartism °^ 
and in Past and Present; Mrs. Browning pleaded for the 
"abused children in touching poems ; and Parliament responded 
to the same impulse. 

After carrying the Reform Bill of 1832, Earl Grey's ministry 
(1) freed the Negro slaves in the West India colonies, paying the 
colonists for their loss^ ; (2) began to free the hardly less misera- 
ble "white slaves" of the English factory towns, by a new- 
era of factory legislation (p. 520); (3) freed the Irish peasants 



1 Special Report : Wilberforce, and his work for emaucipution. 



520 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



The Factory 
Act of 1833 



The Factory 
Act of 1847 



Later fac- 
tory acts 



from the o])ligation of paying tithes to support the Episcopa- 
*lian clergy, whom they hated; (4) abolished the pillory and 
tEe whipping post, and began to reform the foul and inhuman 
conditions in the prisons ; (5) began the reform of local gov- 
ernment (p. 518) ; and (6) made a first step toward public edu- 
cation, by a national grant of £20,000 a year to church schools. 

The most important legislation of the century was the labor 
and ~Jactory legislation here begun. Graduall}^ Englishmen 
had awakened to the ugly fact that the new factory system 
was ruining, not only the souls, but also the bodies of hundreds 
of thousands of women and children, so as to threaten national 
degeneracy. In 1833, among the first acts of the "Reformed 
Parliament," Lord Ashley (Earl of Shaftesbury) ^ secured a 
factory law limiting the work of children (under thirteen year^) 
to forty -eight hours a week, and that of "young people" (from 
thirteeii to eighteen years) to sixty-nine hours a week (or twelve 
hours on five days and*nineTiours on Saturdays), ^nd strictly 
forbidding the employment of children under nine (!) 

In 1847 a still greater factory law limited the labor of women 
ai^'^'^^young personsj' (between 14 and 16) to ten hours a day 
with only half-time for "children" (between 9 and 14j_and with 

provision for schooling in the vacant half of the day^ (Iii^k££t!7 

this law fixed a limit upon the hours of men also, because, after 
The women and children had all left a factory, it was not profit- 
^able to keep the machinery going. Thus ten hours became the 
factory working-day many years before this goal was reached 
generally in America.) 

Of the lon g series of _lateT_acts, the most important is the great 
Act of 1901, w^hich revised and advanced the factory legislation 

of the preceding centurv. Since 1901, no child under 12 can 

■^ ■*- . II I -I - I ,, , , „ . , - - - — ' . ■■' 

be em^lq^ed at all in any sort of factory or workshop ; and for^ 
employees between 12 and 16, a physician must certify that 
t^ere is no danger of physical injury from the employment.^ 

^ Special report upon his work for reform. 

2 For Further Reading. — Gibbin's Industrial History of England, 175- 
176, and Cheyney's Industrial and Social History, 224-202. Vivid statements 
are given also in Justin McCarthy's Epoch of Reform, History of Our 
Own Times, and England in the Nineteenth Century. 



FREE TRADE 521 

These acts have been accompanied by many provisions to Workman's 
secure good lighting and ventilation in factories and workshops, ^^"^P^^sa- 
and to_prevent accidents from machinery, by compelling the 
employer to fence it in with every possible care. In 1880 an 
T!n; i)]()i/crs' Liahilitij Act made it easy for a workman to secure 
coiiipctisation for any injury for which he was not himself tc* 
blame ; and in 1897 a still more generous Workman's Compen- 
satio7i^'cf~secuTe3. such c^ihpensatibri for the workmen by a 
simple process \vithout lawsuits. (These acts have been copied 
in the last few years by progressive iVmerican States.) 

The^short Conservative ministry of Peel (1841-1846) was The old 
m arked by the aboHtion of the Corn Laws. Those laws had '^°^^, 
put an excessively high tariff on imported grain. Their aim was 
to encourage the raising of foodstuffs in England, so as to make 
sure of a home supply; and during the Napoleonic w^ar this 
policy perhaps had been justifiable. The money profits, how- 
ever, had always gone mainly to the landlords, who enacted 
the laws in Parliament and who raised rents high enough to 
confiscate the benefits which the high prices might otherwise 
have brought to the farmer. After the rapid growth in popu- 
lation had rnade it impossible for England to produce enough 
food for lier people anyway, the landlords' monopoly of bread- 
stuffs had become an intolerable burden upon the starving mul- 
titudes. 

The needless misery among this class finally aroused great 
moral indignation. In 1838 the Anti-Corn-Law League, organ- 
ized hyJRjchard Cobden and John Bright, carried on a campaign 
of education through the press and by means of great public 
meetings. The manufacturing capitalists w^ere made to see 
that the Corn Laws taxed them, indirectly, for the benefit of 
the landlords — since to enable their workmen to live, they had 
to pay higher wages than would otherwise have been necessary. 
And so the selfish interests of this influential manufacturing 
class were thrown to the side of this particular reform. 

Final ly, in 1846, a huge calamity was added to the same side. 
This was the Irish Famine. The population of Ireland had been 
increasing rapidly, until it amounted to over eight millions. 



522 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



The Irish 
Famine 
forces free 
trade in 
food 



Free trade 
adopted as 
a policy 



The greater part were poor peasants, living in misery, with 
t'he potato for almost their sole food. Suddenly, in 1846, in 
a night, came a blight that ruined the crop for the year ; and, 
Respite generous gifts of food from all the world, two million 
j)eople died of starvation.^ 

The government in England had already been considering a 

reform of the Corn Laws, and this terrible event in Ireland forced 

it to act. Peel decided to let food in free ; and, despite bitter 

opposition from the landlords of his own party, the reform was 

^adopted. ' 

One interesting result of the bitter feeling of the Tory land- 
lords was the passing of the factory act of 1847 (p. 520). That 
much-needed reform had been vehemently opposed by manu- 
facturing Liberals, like John Bright, who urged (1) that it would 
oblige manufacturers to reduce wages and raise prices ; (2) that 
it took from the workman his "freedom of contract" ( !) ; and 
(3) that it would ruin English industry and drive capital away to 
countries where there was no such "mischievous legislation." 
But the landlord Tories, who had just been beaten by Bright 
on the Corn Laws, grimly took their revenge by forcing this other 
reform upon the manufacturing capitalists. The story shows 
that neither division of the capitalist class could see any needs of 
the working class that conflicted with their own unjust profits. 

Peel was soon overthrown by a party revolt, but the Liberals 
took up his work and carried it farther. They abolished one 
protective tariff after another, until, by 1852, England had become 
a^ '^free trade" country. For the next half century this policy 
was never seriously questioned in England. Soon after 1900, 
however, some Conservative leaders began to advocate a policy 
of '' fair trade," or a s\'stem of retaliatory tariffs against coun- 
tries whose tariffs shut out British manufactures ; and in 1909 
and 1910 the Conservative party made its campaigns on this 
issue ; but so far (1921) it has not won. 

After the enfranchisement of the artisan class by the Re- 
form Bill of 1867, came Gladstone's great reform administration 



1 A million more emigrated to America in the next four years (1847-1850). 
This was the first large immigration of Catholic Irish to this country. 



PLATE XC 





Sir Robert Peel speaking for the Repeal of the Corn I.aws Uciure the 
amazed House of Commons. A painting by T. Walter Wilson. 



GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 523 

(1868-1874)j which rivals in importance that of Earl^Grey in Gladstones 
the thirties. It established alongside the old private and paro- ^^fsTratlon 



chiai schools a new system of public schools, or, as the Eng- 1868-1874 
TTslTcaTrthem, Board Schools.^ It aboli shed purchase^ of office 
tn the ariiiy, and completed the civil sery ice reform (p. 517). 
TtTnti-oduced the ballot (p. 517). It opened English univer- 
sities to others than the members of the Church of England. 
"It passed further factory laws. It definitely repealed the old 
conspjracy laws, under which labor unions liad'been persecuted, 
and it gav(^ l(\ual rights to such unions, permitting them to in- 
corporate and secure the rights at law of an individual. It 
also arranged honorably the Alabama Arbitration Treaty with 
the fnited States. J^t, "disendowed" and "disestablished" 
the English Church in Irehuid, and cam ec 1 through important 
land reforms for Ireland (pp. 526-527). 

But, (l('spit(> tlu' trade-union law, Gladstone _ offended The labor 
the labor party by a new law regarding strikes. This law )J"^°"f 
recognized the right of a union to strike, but made criminal Gladstone 
any show of intimidation. It forbade strikers to revile those 
who remained at work ; and it is reported that under the law 
seven women were sent to prison for crying "Bah !" at a work- 
man who had deserted the strikers. The ministry lost more 
and more of its support, and finally Gladstone "dissolved." 
In the election, the labor unions voted for the Conservatives ; 
and that party secured a large majority, for the first time since 
1832. _ 

Then followed Disraeli's administration of 1874-1880 ivith its Disraeli's 

"dazzJinq forriqn />o//>w."''^ "The only reform at home was the i^^perialistic 

- . ■ ' -'J ^,. ^^ ... - ^ , _ admimstra- 1 

promised repeal of the law auainst strikes. Gladstone's ministry tion, 1874-/ 

haHl)een exceedingly peaceful and honorable in dealing with '^^° 
foreign nations. Disraeli, leader of the new ministry, character- 
ized this attitude as weak, and said that it had "compromised 

S(i railed In (;iu-c tlir\- are managed by elected Boards. (The term 
"public schocjl" in iMTfilaud had been appropriated 1)y the great secondary 
schools, like Rugby, though there is no public control over them.) The 
Board Schools have revolutionized the English working-class. In 1850, 
more than a third of the newly married couples had to sign their names in 
the marriage registers with their "marks" ; but in 1903 only two per cent 
were unable to write their names. 



524 



ENGLAND, 1815-1914 



Gladstone's 
second 
ministry, 
1880-1885 



the honor" of England. He adopted an aggressive foreign 
poKcy, and tried to excite EngHsh patriotism by "jingo" ^ ut- 
terances and conduct. Bv act of Parliament, Queen Victoria 
was declared "Empress of India"; the Boers of the Transvaal 
were incited to war, so that England might seize their lands; 
and in 1878, when Russia conquered Turkey (p. 623) and seemed 

about to exclude the Turks 
from EuropCj^ Disraeli in- 
terfered. He got together* 
a Congress _Qi the J^owers 
at Berlin, and saved enough 
of European Turkey to shut 
Russia off from the Medi- 
terranean^ 

Gladstone came forth 
from retirement to carry on 
a great campaign against 
this policy of supporting 
the Turk in his mastery 
over the Christian popu- 
lations of southeastern 
Europe. His appeal to the 
moral sense"of the English 
people was successful ; and 

Disraeli, Loud Beaconsfield, late in in the election of .1880 the 
his career. t •! i 1 ' 

Liberals secured an over- 
whelming majority. The evil work of the Congress of Berlin 
could not now be*undone ; but Gladstone's new ministry passed 
the Third Reform Bill and it also completed the purification 
of English politics by adopting the law against "Corrupt 
Practices" (p. 518). Soon, however, this Liberal ministry 
found itself occupied witn Irish questions, about_ which English 
politics were to revolve for the next fifteen years. 

1 This word comes from a popular music hall song of 1878 : 
"We don't want to fight ; but, by jingo, if we do 
We've got the men, we've got the ships, 
We've got the money, too." 




IRELAND TO 1800 525 

III. ENGLAND AND THE IRISH QUESTION 

The tragic story of Ireland to the close of Elizabeth's day has Cromwell 
been told. Said an English poet-historian of that time, " If -y^iuiam III 
it had been practised in Hell as it has been in Ireland, it had 
long since destroyed the very kingdom of Beelzebub." Just 
before the Civil War in England, the goaded Irish rose in fierce 
rebellion. A little later the merciless hand of Cromwell restored 
order with a cruelty which makes his name a by-word in Ireland 
to-day. Toward the close of the century^ the Irish sided with 
Janu's II against ^Yilliam III, but were defeated at the Battle 
of fill' Boyne (1090). Tlic Treaty of Limerick (1691), however, 
promised them tlie enjoyment of their own religion and certain 
other pri\ileges \ but these promises were treacherously broken by 
the English settlers, who controlled the parliament of the island, 
so that Ximerick is known as "the City of the Broken Treaty." 

During the eighteenth century the fate of Ireland was Ireland in 
wretched beyond description. In parts of Ulster (the northern eighteenth 
proxince") the population was mainly English. Elsewhere century 
six i^cvcnths of the land belonged to English landlords, most of 
whom lived in England and spent their rents there. Six 
sevenths of the people were Catholic Irish. A few of these, 
especially in the west, were country gentlemen ; a considerable 
number more were tenant farmers; but the great bulk were a 
starving peasantry, working the land for Saxon landlords and 
living in mud hovels, — each with an acre or two of ground 
about it. 

^Farnaers ^nd laborers alike were " tenants at will." That is, "Rack 
they could be evicted at th(- landlord's word. Population was ""^^^ 
so crowded that there was always sharp competition to get farms 
and cottages, and so the landlord could make his own terms. 
If the tenant improved the buildings or drained the land, he 
commonly found at once that he had to pay more rent, so that 
he himself got no profit from his extra labor. This system of 
"rack rent" ina(l(- the ])('asantry reckless and lazyj^and the 
fact that the law of their masters w^as used only to oppress them 
trained them to hate and break the law. 



526 



ENGLAND AND THE IRISH 



V 



The Rebel- 
lion and the 
" Union " 



Young Ire- 
land 



And the 
Fenians 



Gladstone's 
reforms 



In 1798 the Irish rebelled. They were promised aid by the 
Frencli Directory ; but tlie help did not come in time, and the 
rising was put down witli horrible cruelty, A change in the 
goxcriinicnt followed. For several centuries, there had been 
a separate parliament for Ireland (controlled by the English 
settlers); but after 1798 Fmcjland consolidated the government 
of the firo idands7 THe Act of Union (1800) abolished the Irish 
legislatinc (giving Ireland one hundred representatives in the 
English rarliament), and made Ireland subject directly to Eng- 
lish rule and English officials. 

These were the conditions at the opening of the nineteenth 
century. Jn^lSOS ajbrilliant^young Irishman, Robert Emmet, 
tried to organize a rebellion for Irish independence; but the 
effort failed miserably, and Emmet died on the scaffold. 

The_struggle for the repeal of the Union began in 1830, in the 
fir st English Parli ament in which Catholics were allowed to sit 
(p. 510). Forty of the Irish delegation were pledged to work 
for repeal, ancT they were led by the dauntless Darnel O'Conncll; 
but tlie Trisli famine of 1846 checked the agitation, and just 
aJterward O'Connell diqd. Then a band of hot-headed young_ 
^men tried conspiracy, and the fruitless and rather farcic al re- 
bellion of Young Ireland marked the year 1848. 

The next twenty years saw no progress. In 1866 came an- 
other rebellion, — the Fenian Conspiracy, — organized by Irish 
officers who had served in the American Civil War. The danger 
did not become serious, but it convinced many liberal English- 
men that something must be done for Ireland, and Gladstone's 
reform ministry of 1868-1874 took up the task. 

1. Since the day of Elizabeth,^ l^e Episcopal church had 
held the ancient prope rty of the Catholic church in Ireland, 
though in 183o a parliamentary commission failed to find one 
Protestant (except the appointed clergy) in any one of 150 par- 
ishes. That foreign church was now disestablished (deprived 
of political j^rivjleges) and ;paj-tially disendowed — though it 
ke^t its buildings and enough other property to leave it still 
very rich. 

2. This act of partial justice was followed in 1870 by the first 



THE HOME-RULE STRUGGLE 527 

of a lo ng spri(^s of important reforms of the land Imvs. Two things 
were att(iiij)t('(l : (1) in case of removal, it was ordered that 
the landlord must pay for any improvements the tenant had 
made ; and (2) the government arranged to lend money on 
long time and at low interest, to the tenants, so that they might 
buy their little patches of land. In 18 81 and 1885 Gladstone's 
ministries extended and improved these laws until the peasants 
oegan to be true land-owners, with a chance to develop new 
habits of thrift and industr;^;^ 

Meantime, in 1870, a group of Irish memhers of Parliament Reform and 
had begun a neiv agitation for ''Home Rule," and soon afterward *^°®^"°° 
the same leaders organized the^'^Land League," to try to fix 
rents, as labor unions sometimes try to fix wages. For the 
time, the Liberal- ministry frowned on both these movements, 
and prosecuted the Land League sternly on the ground that 
it encouraged crime against landlords. 

But suddenly Gladstone made a change of front. In the new Gladstone 
Parliament of 1884, eighty-six of Ireland's hundred and five 
nieliibers "were "Home Rulers.'' They began to block all legis- Rule 
laTTon'; and'GlacTstone could^ go on only^by securing^ their alli- 
;iiK'(\ ?vr()r('o\ er, he had b ecome convinced that the qnlji way to 
govcni Ireland was to govern it in cooperaiion irifh the Irish, and 
not in opposition to them. So in 1886 he adopted the " Home- 
Rule" plan and introduced a bill to restore a separate legis- 
lature^o^ Ireland. .. 

The Conservatives declared that this policy meant disunion Gladstone's 
and ruin to the Empire, and in this belief they were joined by retirement 
many of the old Liberals, w^ho took thq name of Liberal U^iion- 
ists. The Home-Rule Bill was defeated ; but it made the issue 
in the next election a few^ years later, and in 1893 Gladstone 
tried to carry another such measure. This time, the Commons 
passed the bill, but the Lords threw it out. The majority for 
it in the Commons was narrow, and plainly due only to the 
Irish vote. Thus Gladstone felt that the nation would not 
support him in any attempt to pass the bill by swamping the 
Lords with new peers. At this moment his age compelled him 




converted to 
Home 



528 



ENGLAND AND THE IRISH 



Further land 
reform 



The Sinn 
Fein move- 
ment 



to retire from parliamentary life, and the Liberals, left for a 
time without a fit leader, went out of power. 

The Conservatives and Unionists then tried to conciliate 
Ireland by extending the policy of government loans to the peas- 
antry to an almost unlim- 
ited extent, though for- 
merly they had railed at 
such acts as robbery and 
socialism ; and they grant- 
ed a kind of heal "home 
rule," by establishing elec- 
tive County Councils like 
those in England. The 
Irish members kept up 
agitation ' in Parliament, 
but for a long time even 
the Liberals seemed to 
have lost interest in Irish 
Home Rule ; and indeed 
it was plain that nothing 
could be done until after 
the "mending or ending" 
of the House of Lords. 
This matter was soon 
forced to the front in connection with English questions 
(pp. 529 ff.). 

Meantime a group of ardent Irish scholars and poets had be- 
gun to revive the use of Erse (the ancient Irish language) and 
to buildthe old IrisKhistory and legends into a noble and beauti- 
ful literature. A new sense of nationality, due largely to this 
literary revival^ soon gave birth to the Sinn Fein movement 
("Ourselves alone"), calling for complete independence. 




Gladstone, after retirement. 



N 



CHAPTER LV 

RECENT REFORM IN ENGLAND: "WAR UPON POVERTY" 

/ ho-pe that great advance will he made during this generation toward 
the time when poverty, with its wretchedness and squalor, will be as remote 
from, the people of this country as are the wolves which once infested its 
forests. — Lloyd George, in 1909. 

After Gl adstonels retirement, the Conservatives held power for The Con 

ten years (1896-1905). Thev carried forward some social re- servative 

'-7 1*1 /• 1 IP ''^^®' 1896- 

forms which they had once bitterly opposed — such as lactory igos 

reform and Irish-land reform — • but they also placed the Eng- 
lish Board schools under the control of the established church. 
In 1905 the. Liberals returned to power with a group of new Return of 
leaders, who still (1921) remain prominent in English public life, *^^ Liberals 
— Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George, and Mr. Winston Churchill. 
The ministry which contained these men was supported by the 
largest parliamentary majority which had been seen since the Fifty Labor 
First Reform Bill. The^sarne election sent fifty Labor repre- members in 
setitdtirr:-; to Parliament, several of them avowed Socialists. 

The new ministry sought at once to take the schools back 
from the control of the church but succeeded only in part — 
owing to the veto of the Lords. That House, too, ventured 



to challenge conflict by vetoing a bill that tried to take 
away tlie "plural votes" of rich men.^ To "end or mend" 
"Theobstructive House of Lords had been part of the Liberal 
platform for a quarter of a century. Now the issue was com- 
ing to the front. The final clash came over the budget. 

1 The English law permitted a man to vote in as many counties as he 
JierdTandbcI property. The defense of this ancient privilege of property 
had become a matter of intense feeling with the English Conservatives. 
■jyieXiberHls shouted the slogan, "One man, one vote." (Since elections 
wer e held^all on_^one day, the actual number of plural votes was iiot very 
large; but they remained a hateful class distinction.) 

' 529 



530 



RECENT REFORM IN ENGLAND 



Lloyd 
George's 
budget of 
1909 



The Lords 

challenge 

conflict 



Each year the ministry presents a statement of the expenses^ 
it intends to incur, and of the taxes it proposes to lay where- 
with to meet those expenses. This statement is the budget. In 
April of 1909 Lloyd George, finance minister, presented a budget 
jvhich honestly horrified Conservatives, and which was the 
most socialistic step ever taken up to that time by a great 
government. (1) A graduated income tax took a large part 
of all incomes over $25,000, and bore more heavily on unearned 
incomes than on those earned. (2) A graduated inheritance tax 
took larger proportions than formerly of inheritances. (3) A 
much higher tax was placed on land that paid rents and royalties 
to landlords than on land worked by its owners. (4) IVIost 
important of all, there was a provision that when any man sold 
land for more than it had cost, he must pay one fifth the gain 
into the national treasury. (This is known as a tax on the "un- 
earned increment," and is a move toward the doctrine of the 
Single-taxers, who wish tlie community to take all such unearned 
increment.) 

The Conser^-^ti^i^s attacked this budget \i()lently as revolu- 
tionary. Especially they denounced the distinction regarding 
unearn ed inc(j>mes as an " invidious assault on the rights of prop- 
erty. " Moreover, they claimed that the treasury did not need 
such vast income as was proposed. As to this last point, Lloyd 
George declared that he was proposing a "war budget," — 
for "waging implacable war against poverty." The other 
accusations were answered forcibly by Mr. Winston Churchill, 
who frankly declared a man's right to property dependent 
upon the way in which he obtained it : " Formerly," said 
he, "the only question by the tax-gatherer was 'How much 
have you got?' . . . To-day . . . we ask also, ^ How did you 
get it f'' 

The budget passed the Commons, but the Lords threw it out 
by a vote of five to one. For many centuries the upper House 
had not dared to interfere with a "money bill" (p. 310). Now 
was the time for the Commons to strike. TSi^~Ipi^i^^O " *^^^' 
solved," in order t(^ appeal to the nationjor syjjport i^restrict- 
ing the veto of the House ofJ^iO^ds^ andvv'ere i ndorsed by an 



SOCIAL INSURANCE 531 

enlarged majority. The Lords now passed the l)iidget, but 
threw out a bill against their veto^_ Another dissolution and a 
second election showed the country resolutely behind the min- 
istry; and Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister, now announced that, 
if necessary, 500 new peers would be created to pass the bill. 

Then the helpless Lords passed the laiv which reduced their House The Lords 
to a nonentity. Under this law of 1911, any money bill passed ^°se ^^^ 
by the Commons becomes law within a month, whether 
tne Lords pass Tt or not (and the Speaker of the Commons 
decides whether a bill is or is not a money bill) ; and any 
other bill passed by the Commons at three successive sessions be- 
comes law, in spite of a veto by the Lords. 

The Liberals then hastened to push through a program of Social in- 
social reform. In 1908 they had already passed an Old-age surance, 
Pensions Act giving $1.25 a week to every person over seventy 



3^ears old with a yearly income of less than £160 — not as a dole ^ — -^ 
of charity but as due reward in payment for a long life of service 
to the commonweal. An even more important move in the 
"war against poverty" was now made, in a national insurance 
act of 1911. This act compelled every worker with a yearly in- 
come of less than $800 to insure against sickness, and offered 
tempting inducements for such insurance to workers with higher 
incomes. (The benefits include weekly payments during sick- 
ness, free medical care in health, and free treatment in state hos- 
pitals when sick.) More radical still was a provision insuring 
workers in certain trades against unemployment. A workman 
out of work, without fault of his own, was promised a weekly 
sum for a term of fifteen weeks, and free transportation to a place 
where the free labor-bureaus may find him new work. These 
acts placed England in the lead of the large nations in the 
matter of "social insurance." 

Political reform, too, loas pushed forward. In 1 911 the maxi- other re- 
mum duration of Parliaments was limited to five years, instead ^omi before 
of seven, and salaries ($2000 a year) were provided for members 
of Parliament. The same Parliament finally "disestablished" 
^he English church in Wales (where the people were practically 
all dissenters) and at last passed Jrish Home Rule. The Lords 



532 



RECENT REFORM IN ENGLAND 



Delay due 

to the 
World War 



Ireland 
since the 
war 



vetoed both measures in 1912 and in 1913, but in 1914 they be- 
came law over the veto. In Protestant Ulster, however, the 
Conservative "Unionists" threatened rebellion to prevent Home 
Rule going into effect. When, a few weeks later, the World War 
began, the leaders in this program of violence gave it up ; but 
in return the ministry secured an act from Parliament postpon- 
ing the date when the Home-Rule law should go into operation. 

This delay was one of the most unhappy results of the great 
war. The old hatreds seemed about to be wiped out. Previous 
reforms by the English Parliament had disestablished the Eng- 
lish church in Ireland and had tried honestly to undo the injustice 
of centuries of English landlordism there by making the Irish 
peasants again the owners of their own land. A final act of 
justice seemed about to be performed, which would have left 
further Irish reform in Irish hands. The delay (along with some 
other blunders of the English government) produced bitter re- 
sentment ; and now the Sinn Feiners (p. 528) became the domi- 
nant party. On the whole Ireland still did its part nobly in the 
great war ; but some leaders spent their energies instead (some- 
times even in plots with German autocracy) in attempts to 
set up an independent Irish nation. On the other hand, fight- 
ing Germany for her life, England used unwise severity in put- 
ting down such plots by death sentences. This made any 
righteous settlement grievously hard. 

It is most convenient to bring this story down to date at this 
point. In the first Parliamentary election after the war, the 
Sinn Feiners djsplaced the Home Rulers, winding nearly all 
the seats outside Ulster. Of .course they then left their seats 
vacant. In 1920 Lloyd George carried a new Home-Rule Bill, 
providing tico subordinate Irish parliaments. The Ulster par- 
liament organized ; but the rest, of Ireland would have nothing 
to do with'lthe plan. For the next two years Ireland was ruled 
bv martial law-'^^witti innumerable assassinations and riots and 
w^ith frightful police retaliation. 

At last, however, England had to recognize that the great 
bulk of the Irish people really were united in their demand for 
a new national life, and English public opinion began to 



MISGOVERNMENT IN IRELAND 533 

rebel against the government's polic}' of armed repression. (No 
question, 'too, this change of feeUng was hastened by the very 
strong and general sympathy for Ireland expressed in America — 
to whose public opinion England had grown sensitive.) At the 
same time, few Englishmen felt that in these days of airships 
and submarines, England could safely run the risk of the neigh- 
boring island becoming a base of operations for an enemy in 
some future war. Independence in all internal arrangements, 
and even in foreign trade, it was seen, had to be conceded, but 
along with retention of oversight over foreign political re- 
lations. 

And suddenly Lloyd George (to the dismay and wrath of the The settle- 
Tory elements in the coalition that had been supporting him) ^-22 
executed one more of his many political somersaults. He called 
into conference the Irish leaders whom just before he had been 
hunting do]^n as traitors or felons, agreed with them uppn^a 
new plan of government by which Ireland became as independ- 
ent and self-governing as Canada or Australia, and carried that 
plan swiftly through the English Parliament. In Ireland an ex- 
treme partv still stood out for entire separation from the British 

"■■-■■in , ..« ■ ' ." ' ' """ "* 

Empire, but, after some weeks of bitter debate, the Irish Free, 
State parliament ratified this treatv on January J7, 1922. So, 
it may "be Eope^, en"3s the'story of one of the longest and cruelest 
injustices in history. 

Meantime suffrage reform had been completed in England. " Votes for 
In 1912 the Asquith ministry introduced the "Fourth Parlia- the suffra- 
mentary Reform Bill," extending the suffrage to all grown men gettes 
and establishing the principle "one man, one vote"; but this 
bill was withdrawn, later, because of complications with the 
"equal suffVage" movement. 

Until 1870, women in England (and in most European lands) 
had fe}ver rights than in America. But when the English 
** Board schools" were created, women were given the right to 
vote for the Boards, and to serve upon them. In 1888 and 1894 
they were given the franchise for the County Councils and Parish 
Councils, subject to the tax-paying restrictions that applied 



534 



RECENT REFORM IN ENGLAND 



to men. Then in 1893 the colony of Xew Zealand gave women 
fjill politicg-l rights^ and ia 1901 the new Australian Common- 
wealth did so (as the separate Australian States had done or at 
once did do). 

The action of these progressive colonics reajjted upon Old 
England.^ "Tn 1905 numbers of women there exchanged peace- 
ful agitation for violence, in the campaign for the ballot. They 
made noisy and threatening^. demonstrations before the homes 
of^membejg of tlie ministry ; they broke windows^; they in- 
vaded the House of Commons in its sittings ; and at last they 
began even to destroy mail boxes and burn empty buildings. 
The purpose jof these suffragettes was to center attention on 
the demand "Votes for women," sinceT^e leaders believed, the 
demand was sure to be granted if only people could be kept 
thinking about it. When members of this party of violence were 
sent to jail, they resorted to a "starvation strike," until the 
government felt compelled to release them — after trying for a 
time "forceful feeding." For the time, however, the suffragettes 
lost public sympathy and alienated many Liberals, so that all 
franchise reform paused. But when the war of 1914 began, the 
suffragette leaders called upon their followers to drop all vio- 
lence while the country was in peril ; and the devoted services of 
women to the country throughout the war removed the last oppo- 
sition to equaL. suffrage. Iii. 1918 the "Fourth Reform Bill" 
became law, giving one vote to each man and each woman. 



England 
long a land- 
lord's coun- 
try 



The early years of the twentieth century saw also another act 
of reparation to a large part of the English people — a matter 
which requires a backward glance. 

In 1700, in spite of the sixteenth-century inclosures (p. 365), 
England still had some 400,000 yeomen farmers — who,^ with 
their families, made nearly half tKe total population- But by 
1800, though population haji doubled, this class of independent 
small holders had vanished, and rural EnglandTiad become a 
country of great landlords. The change took place mainly dur- 



1 See also the progress of equal suffrage in other European lands (pp. 578- 
582) and in America (West's American People, 689-690). 



A NEW YEOMAN CLASS 535 

ing the final quarter of the century — just when the Industrial 
Revolution was well under way. The new profits in farming 
(p. 465) made landlords eager for more land. They controlled 
Parliament (p. 506) ; and that body passed law after law inclos- 
ing the "commons/' for the benefit of their class. A rhyme of the 
day expresses the feeling of the yeomen : 

"The law locks up the man or woman 
Who steals the goose from off the common ; 
But leaves the greater villain loose 
Who steals the common from the goose." 

The peasant farmers, having lost their old pasture land by 
these inclosures, could no longer maintain themselves against 
the competition of the privileged landlord, who also alone had 
money to buy the new machinery coming into use. ^Snuill farm- 
ers were compelled to sell out; while the merchants and new man- 
ufacturing capitalists were eager to buy, both because of the 
new profits in agriculture and because social position and 
political power in England in that day rested on ownership of 
land. The dispossessed yeomanry drifted to the new factory 
towns to swell the unhappy class there (p. 475) ; or they remained 
to till the landlord's land, living on his estate as "cottagers," 
subject to removal at his order. 

Since this change, until very recently, the classes connected Classes in 
with the land in England have been three, — landlords, tenant- [^^^ ^^' 
farmers, and laborers, The first class comprised a few thousand 
gentry and nobles. Each such proprietor divided his estate 
into "farms," of from a hundred to three hundred acres, and 
leased them out to men with a little capital, who are known as 
"farmers." This second class worked the land directly, with 
the aid of the third class, who had no land of their own but who 
labored for day-wages. 

The landlords as a rule prided themselves upon keeping up 
their estates. They introduced costly machinery and improved 
methods of agriculture more rapidly than small proprietors 
could, and they furnished some of the money necessary to put 
farms and buildings into good condition. Their own stately 
homes, too, encompassed by rare old parks, gave a beauty to 



536 RECENT REFORM IN ENGLAND 

rural England such as no other country knew. (During the 
World War, these glorious oaks were cut to furnish lumber 
for England ; and much of this beauty has been lost.) The farm- 
ers, compared with the farm-laborers, were an aristocratic and 
prosperous class ; but, of course, they had always been largely 
influenced by their landlords. And they did not own their land. 
Peasants became free in England sor.ie centurie»i sooner than in 
France or Germany ; but in no other European country have 
the peasants ever so completely ceased to be owners of the soil 
as in nineteenth -century England. In 1876 a parliamentary 
inquiry found only a quarter of a million (262,886) land-owners 
with more thiin an acre apiege (while 1200 men owned a fourth 
of all England). France, with about the same population, had 
more than twenty times as many land-owners as England had. 
Rebuilding For many years the Liberal party had tried to remedy this 

drsr^""^" evil by parliamentary "Allotment acts" (1883, 1887, 1892); 
but the commissioners to carry out such laws always came 
from the landlord class, and little was done. But after local^ 
government b^G^me^^f lUocratic (in 1888 and especially in 1894) 
the local councils began to buy land, or to condemn it at forced 
sales, and then to turn it over in^malj holdings to farm laborers 
on long leases or for purchase^on easy te^ms. This movement 
has been tremendously accelerated by the need of taking care 
pf unemplpyecl returned..spldiers since the World War; and the 
English people are coming once more to own England. 

For Further Reading. — Ogg, Social Progress in Contemporary 
Europe, 265-279; Cross, History of England, ch. Ivii ; Larson, Short 
History of England, 617-639. 



w 

< 

Ph 




CHAPTER LVI 
ENGLISH COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES 

Of all peoples the English have been the most successful in The 
colonizing new lands and in ruling semi-barbarous races. In ^"^'^^ 
1776 England lost her most important colonies in North Amer- 
ica ; but the hundred years of war with France (1689-1815) gave 
her a new and vaster empire (pp. 399, 449). In the nineteenth 
century this empire was tremendously expanded again, — 
mainl}^ by peaceful settlement and daring exploration. In 1914 
the British Empire covered nearly fourteen million square miles 
(nearly a fourth the land area of the globe), and its population 
numbered four hundred millions, or about one fourth of the 
whole human race. Forty millions of this number dwelt in 
the British Isles, and about fifteen millions more of English 
descent lived in self-governing colonies, — mainly in Canada, 
Australia, and South Africa. The other seven eighths of the 
vast population of the Empire are of non-European blood, and 
for the most part they are subject peoples. 

The outlying possessions are of two kinds: (1) those of conti- 
nental importance in themselves, such as Canada, India, Egypt, 
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indian 
and South American colonies ; and (2) coaling stations and naval 
posts commanding the routes to these possessions, such as Gi- 
braltar, Malta, Cyprus, Ceylon, St. Helena, Trinidad, and scores 
more. 

Some colonies are completely self-governing, with no depend- The self- 

ence upon England except in form. This is true of Canada, go^^^.^^^s 
. . . colonies 

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The English min- 
istry appoints a Governor General, whose powers resemble those 
of the figurehead monarch in England. But the people of the 
colony elect the local legislature ; and the real executive is the local 

537 



538 THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

ministry, "responsible'' to the legislature, as the ministry in 
England is to Parliament. 
Crown In another group of colonies, the governors and officials, sent 

colonies ^^^ from England, really control the whole government. This 

class of "crown colonies'' comprises most of the naval posts, 
like Gibraltar, and also those colonies lying in the torrid zone, 
where the population is mainly non-European. 

India India is a huge crown colony. The English ministry appoints 

a Viceroy and a Council, and these authorities name the subor- 
dinate officials for the subdivisions of the vast country. In the 
smaller districts the P^nglish officials are assisted by native of- 
ficers, and to some extent by elected councils of natives. Out- 
side the territory ruled directly by England there are also nearly 
a thousand native principalities, large and small, where 
the governments are really directed by resident English 
"agents." 

The constant petty wars which formerly were always wasting 
the land have been wholly done away with, and the terrible 
famines, which from time immemorial have desolated it at in- 
tervals, have become fewer, and on the whole, less serious. As 
a result, population has increased rapidly, — over fifty per cent 
in a century, — and to-day more than three hundred million 
people dwell in India. England has built railroads, and devel- 
oped cotton industries. Cotton mills give a Western appearance 
to parts of that ancient Oriental land. India has 800 news- 
papers (printed in twenty different languages) ; and 6,000,000 
students are being educated in schools of many grades. India 
is not taxed directly for the benefit of the treasury of the 
Empire, but her trade is a chief source of British wealth. 

The English have been making a notable attempt to introduce 
self-government and to get the natives to care for it. Towns 
are invited to elect municipal councils and to take charge of 
their streets and drainage and other matters of local welfare. 
Still it remains true that the Hindoos cannot understand 
Western civilization, and they do not like it. Moreover, in 
the great war, England failed to throw herself generously upon 



PLATE XCII 




,.dcrwuo(f and Underwood. 



Coptjrii,i,i 

Railroad Station, Bombay, India. — The purpose of the building is 
due, of course, to English civilization ; but the architecture is native to 
India. 



EGYPT 539 

Indian loyalty ; she refused commissions to Hindoos, and lost 
a great chance to bind that people to her more closely. 

Dissatisfaction due to this mistaken English policy, and the 
new impulse given by the war to all nationalist movements, 
have led, since 1920, to a remarkable "pacifist" movement for 
Hindoo independence — which, at this writing (December, 1921) 
English officers are putting down cruelly. 

Egypt in name was one of the tributary states of Turkey until Egypt 
1914. In fact, however, it had been independent for most of 
the nineteenth century, until, in 1881, a new master stepped in. 
The government had borrowed recklessly and spent wastefully 
and the land was misgoverned and oppressed by crushing taxa- 
tion. Then, in 1879, England and France jointly intervened 
to secure payment of debts due from the Egyptian Khedive to 
English and French capitalists. In 1881 came a native Egyp- 
tian rising against this foreign control. France withdrew. 
England stayed, restored order, and "occupied" the country 
England had a special motive for staying. The Suez Canal And the 
had been opened in 1869. The gigantic undertaking had been ^"®^ Canal 
financed by an international stock company. In 1875 
Disraeli's administration had bought from the Egyptian govern- 
ment its share of the Canal stock, and the English intervention 
in Egypt was largely to protect this property. Egypt has 
been made a base of operation, also, from which English 
rule has been extended into the Soudan (map facing p. 603) far 
toward Central Africa. 

After 1881, Egypt was really an English protectorate. The 
Khedive and all the machinery of the old government remained 
unchanged ; but an English agent was alwa^'s present at the 
court "to offer advice." Many Englishmen entered the service 
of the Egyptian government, too ; and all such officers looked 
to the English agent as their real head. In 1914, during the 
great European war, England formally announced a full protec- 
torate. 

To Egypt itself, English rule was in many ways a decided 
good. The system of taxation was reformed, so that it became 



540 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



less burdensome and more productive. The irrigation works 
were revived and improved, so that Egypt is richer, more 
populous, and with a more prosperous peasantry, than ever 
before. At the same time there has grown up a party among 
the Egyptian people who believe that their country is now quite 
fit to stand alone — and that it has a right to try. After the 
World War this situation led to occasional popular risings 
and stern English repression. Just at this writing (March, 
1922) Lloyd George has announced that Egypt is to be set 
free. 



The winning 
of self-gov- 
ernment in 
Canada 



One of the most important features of tlie nineteenth century 
was the development of self-government in the Anglo-Saxon colonies 
of England. The loss of the American colonies had taught a 
lesson, and the next colony to show violent dissatisfaction had 
all its wishes granted. 

This event took place in Canada in 1837. There were then 
only two "provinces" there. These thinly settled districts lay 
along the St. Lawrence, and were known as Upper and Lower 
Canada. They had been governed for many years much as 
Massachusetts or Virginia was governed before 1776. The 
accession of the girl-queen in England in 1837 was the signal 
for a rising. The rebellion was stamped out quickly ; but an 
English commissioner, sent over to investigate, recommended 
that the demands of the conquered rebels for greater freedom should 
be granted. Parliament adopted this recommendation. In 
1839 the two provinces were granted "responsible'' ministries. 
England, in name, retains a veto upon Canadian legislation; 
but it has never been used. In 1850 a like plan for self-gov- 
ernment was granted to the Australian colonies ; in 1852 to New 
Zealand ; and in 1872 to Cape Colony in Africa. 



Australia 
begins as a 
convict 
camp 



The growth of the Australian colonies is a romantic story, 
worthy of a book to itself. England's original claim rested on 
landings by Captain Cook in his voyage to the Pacific in 1769. 
No regular settlement was attempted for half a century, but in 
1787 England sent a shipload of convicts to the coast of " New 



AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 541 

South Wales," and repeated this act from time to time for fifty 
years. After their terms of punishment, many ex-convicts be- 
came steady farmers, and finally the English government began 
to induce other settlers to "go out" by free grants of land and 
of farming implements. By 1821 the colony had a population 
of 40,000, and soon it became the main sheep-raising region of 
the world. 

By natural expansion, familiar to students of American his- English 
tory, this colony of New South Wales sent out offshoots, so fnTustr^Jlia 
that by 1859 the continental island was occupied by six English 
colonies. These Australian commonwealths have been pioneers Democratic 
in democratic progress. Before 1900, every man and every ^uSaliV^ 
woman in each state had the right to vote. The government in 
each state owned the railroads. The "Australian ballot" 
and the Torrens system of land transfer came from these col- 
onies ; and a powerful Labor party in each has secured other 
radical reforms — which are seen better still perhaps in New 
Zealand. 

"New Zealand" comprises a group of islands 1200 miles east New 
of Australia. Settled and governed for a time from New South exoerhnents 
Wales, it became a separate colony in 1840. In 1911 it in industrial 
contained a million English-speaking inhabitants. For many ^^^^^^^y 
years it has been perhaps the most democratic state in the world. 
Women secured the right to vote in 1893. Large estates have 
been broken up into small holdings by heavy taxation. A state 
"Farmers' Loan Bank" set the example followed in part by the 
United States in 1913. The most advanced factory laws and 
"social insurance" laws in the world have been found in New 
Zealand since 1893 and 1898. 

South Africa was long an unsatisfactory part of the Em- South 



pire for Englishmen to contemplate. England seized Cape 
Colony from the Dutch during the Napoleonic wars (p. 449). 
English settlers came in rapidly, but in 1834 a portion of the 
old Dutch colonists "trekked" (moved with families, ox- 
wagons, herds, and flocks) north into the wilderness, and set up 
an independent government in Natal. A few years later the 



Africa : 
the Boers 



542 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



The Boer 
War 



British annexed Natal, and the Dutch again trekked into what 
is known as the Orange Free State, and, in 1848, once more 
*into the country beyond the Vaal River. These " Transvaal [' 
Dutch became involved in serious difficulties with the native 
Zulus, whom they ensla\ed and treated brutally, and a native 
rising threatened to exterminate aQ Europeans in South Africa. 
Under Disraeli (p. 523) England interposed, put down the 
^ulus, and extended her authority once more over the Boer 
states. 

In 1880 the Boers re])clled, and with their magnificent marks- 
manship destroved a British force at the Battle of Majuba Hill. 
Gladstone adop^ei the view that the Boers had been wTongf ully 
deprived of their independence, and^ without attempting to 
avenge Majuba Hill, he withdrew the British claims and left 

^cr_ Z-, ,,-^.^^0^ •tarn " "^ *' ^. j^'*"* • 1 

to the noers of the Transvaal a virtual independence, under 
British **"protection." The exact rela'tions between the two 
countries, however, were not well defined. 

Soon afterward, gold was discovered in the Transvaal, and 
English and other foreigners rushed in, so as to outnumber the 
feoer citizens^ The Boers, who were simple farmers, unable 
themselves to develop the country, had at first invited immi- 
grants, but soon became jealous of their growing numbers and 
refused them all political rights. England attempted to secure 
better treatment for her citizens among these new settlers, 
and, under Salisbury's Conservative and Imperialistic ministry, 
was bent upon reasserting her authority in general. The Boers 
declared war (1899). The Orange Free State joined the Trans- 
vaal, and tlie little republics carried on a marvelous and heroic 
struggle^ They were finally l^eaten ; and England adopted a 
generous policy toward the conquered, malting large gifts of 
money to restock their ruined farms, and granting liberal selfj: 
government to her recent foes. 



t 



English col- During the last half-century the English-speaking colonies 

omes organ- j^g^yg made one more great advance in free government. At 

ized in great , " . ^ 

federal com- the time of the American Revolution, " Canada" meant merely 

monwealths ^j^^ g^ Lawrence settlements. In the nineteenth century these 



NEW FEDERAL COMMONWEALTHS 543 

expanded westward, forming a splendid band of states ^ spanning 
the continent. Then, in 1867, the separate colonies of this 
British X(Htli Aiiurica organized themselves into the Dominion 
"o 7 Canada. This is a Jede raLstate, similar to the United States, 
composed now of nine members, with a number of other " Ter- 
ritot -c^y The union has a two-house legislature, with a re- 
sponsible ministry; and each of the eight states has its own 
local legislature and ministry, ji siinihtr union of the six Aus- 
traiian colonies into one federal state was agitated for many - — l^OO 
years; and, after two federal conventions and a popular vote, 
it was finally established on the first day of the twentieth century. 

Finallv, in 1909, the four South African states federated, with 

fcv^- ~ — *' . - 

thenarnej_" The Union of South Africa." 

Thus three new English nations were formed, — each at its 
birth large enough to command respect among the nations of 
the world (each one double the size of the United States at the 
time when its independence was achieved). 

The bond which holds together the Anglo-Saxon parts of the Ties be- 
Empire is almost wholly one of feeling. Certainly, if either Can- jand and"^ 
ada or Australia wished to set up as an independent nation, her colonies 
England would not dream of trying to hold it. The English 
statesman, however, who should invite Canada to drop out of 
the Empire, or who should provoke her into doing so, would be 
universally regarded in England as a traitor to his race. 

There is no present danger of separation. The colonists have 
had no cause to complain, except in one respect : namely, they 
have had no voice in deciding the policy of the Empire toward 
foreign nations. This evil has recently been removed in great 
part by the recognition of delegates from these colonial countries 
at the Peace Congress of 1919 and in the League of Nations. 

1 Read Mrs. Humphry Ward's Lady Merton, Colonist, to get the spirit 
of the Canada of the West. 



PAET XIV - CONTINENTAL EUROPE, 
1871-1914 



CHAPTER LVII 



The Gov- 
ernment of 
National 
Defense 



Second 
stage of 
the war 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, 1871-1914 

The news of Sedan (p. 503) reached Paris, September 3, 1870. 

The city had been kept in ignorance of the previous disasters 

to French arms. Now it 
went mad with dismay 
and terror. The next day, 
aided by a mob invasion 
of the legislative cham- 
ber, a few Radical deputies 
tumultuously proclaimed 
the " Third Republic," and 
set up a provisional Gov- 
crnment of National De- 
fense. 

This government tried 
at first to secure an hon- 
orable peace with Ger- 
many, protesting, truly, 
that the French people 
had not willed the war. 
But when Prussia made 
it plain that she intended 
to punish France by tak- 
ing large slices of her ter- 
ritor}^ the conflict entered 

upon a new stage. Paris held out heroically through a four 

months' siege; and Gambetta, a leading member of the Gov- 

" 544 




Gambetta Arousing the Provinces 
against the Prussian invader. — From 
a newspaper print of the day. 



BISMARCK DICTATES THE PEACE 



545 



eminent of Defense, escaped from the beleaguered city in a 
balloon/ to organize a magnificent uprising in the provinces. 
Exhausted France raised army after army, and amazed the 
world by her tremendous exertions. But in the end it became 
apparent that the iron grasp of the German armies could not 




National 



Bismarck Dictating Teums to Thiehs in 1871, — a painting by Von 
Werner. The figure back of the table is Thiers' associate in the nego- 
tiation, Jules Favre, who had led the defense of Paris. 

be broken. The great population of Paris began to suffer the 
horrors of famine ; the dogs and rats had been eaten ; and on 
January 28 the city surrendered. 

There was no government in France with any real authority The 
to make peace; and so an armistice was arranged, to permit ^gggjjj^jjy 
the election of a National Assembly by manhood suffrage. The of 1871 
Assembly met toward the close of February, 1871, and created 
a provisional government by electing Thiers " Head of the Ex- 
ecutive Power of the French Republic." To this government Bismarck 
^ismarck, dictated harsh j;erms of peace. The Prussians took ^a^sliTerms 
Alsace and a part of Lorraine (with the great fortresses of Metz 
and Strassburg,) and a huge war indemnity of a billion dollars 
(some four times the cost of the war to Germany). 

1 This was long before the day of aeroplanes. 



546 THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 

The " Com- Hardly had the Ilii^tional Assembly accepted this peace be- 

mune of fore it had to meet a ternble rebellion at home. During the 
P&ris " 1 87 1 » -» ^' ~" ' * "^ 

siege all adult males of Paris had been armed as National Guards. 

When the siege waT*dver, every one who could get away from 
the distressed city did temporarily remove (including one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand of the wealthier National Guards) leaving 
Paris in control of the radical element. This element, too, 
kept its arms and its military organization ; and Jt now set up 
a government of its own by choosing a lar^e "Central Com- 
mittee."^ 

The National Assembly had established itself at Versailles. 
The radicals of Paris suspected it of wishing to restore the mon- 
archy. (In fact, a large majority of the members ivere Mon- 
archists, as events were soon to prove.) Moreover, the x\s- 
sembly had aggrieved tlie poorer classes of Paris : it had 
insisted upon the immediate payment of rents and other debts 
incurred during the siege ; and it did away in large measure 
with the pay of the National Guard, which since the surrender 
had been a kind of poor-relief. In addition to all this, the Reds 
and Socialists still remembered bitterly the cruel middle-class 
vengeance of '48 (p. 484). 

For two weeks Paris and Versailles faced each other like hos- 
tile camps. Then, indorsed by another popular election, the 
Central Committee set u p the Commune and adopted the red flag. 

The supporters of this jjcogram ^ished^^e central govern- 
ment of France to be merely a loose |ederation of independent 
"^comrnunes/' ^ In 1848 the Paris Radicals had learned that 
the country districts of France were overwhelmingly opposed 
to Socialism and to "Red Republicanism." But if each city 
and village could become an almost independent state, then 
the Radicals hoped to carry out their socialistic policy in at 
least Paris and other large cities, 

* So they called themselves " Federals." They are properly described also 
as " Conijfflun ards " ; but the name " Communist/' wliich is often applied to 
them, is likely to give a false impression. That latter name is generally used 
only for those who oppose private property. ISIany of the Communards 
were also Communists, but probably the majority of them were not. 



THE PARIS COMMUNE 



547 



But France, though still bleeding from invasion, refused to he Civil War 
dismembered by internal revolt. The excited middle class 
felt, moreover, that the institution of property itself was at 
stake, and they confounded all Communards together as crim- 
inals seeking to overthrow society. Like attempts to set up 




Destruction of the Vendome Column (p. 440) by Communards in 
1871 ; — a sketch by a contemporary Parisian artist. The Commu- 
nards declared the commemoration of ^nctory in wars of conquest unworthy 
a free people. The monument was afterward restored. 

Communes took place at Marseilles, Toulouse, Narbonne, and 
Lyons ; but they came to little, and the civil war was confined 
to Paris. April 2 the Versailles Assembly attacked Paris with 
the regular troops that had now returned from captivity in Ger- 
many. The struggle lasted two months and was utterly fero- 
cious. The Assembly refused to treat the Communards as 
regular combatants, and shot down all prisoners. In retaliation, 
the Commune seized several hundred hostages from the better 
classes left in Paris. These hostages, however, were not harmed 
until the Commune had been overthrown. Then, in the final 
disorder, an unauthorized mob did put sixty-three of them to 
death, — the venerable Archbishop of Paris among them. 

The bom|)ardment of^ Paris by. the Versailles government 
was far more destructive than that by the Germans had been. 



548 



THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 



Another 
" White 
Terror 



Finally the troops forced their way into the city, which was 
already in flames in many sections. For eight days more, des- 
perate fighting went on in the streets, before the rebellion was 
put down. Court-martiaLexecutions of large batches of pris- 
oners continued for manv months, and some thirteen thousand 
survivors were condemned to transportation, before the rage of 
the victorious middle class was sated. There are few darker 
stains on the page of history than the cruelty and brutality of 
this middle-class vengeance. 



The Assem- 
bly monar 
chic in feel- 
ing 



Monarchic 
factions fail 
to unite 



Thiers 

President, 

1871-1873 



The Assembly had been elected simply with a view to mak- 
ing peace. In choosing it, men had thought of nothing else. 
It was limited by no constitution, and it had 710 definite term of 
office. Certainly, it had not been commissioned to make a con- 
stitution or to continue to rule indefinitely ; but it did both 
these things. 

At the election, people had chosen conservative candidates, 
because they wanted men who could be counted upon not to 
renew the war rashly. Tlie majority of the meml^ers proved to 
be Monarchists ; and they failed to s^t qp a king, only because 
they were divided into three rival groups, — Imperialists (Bona- 
partists), Orleanists (supporters of the Count of Paris, grandson 
of Louis Philippe), and Legitimists (adlierents of the Count 
of Chambord, grandson of Charles X). These three factions 
agreed in believing that a new election would increase the 
strength of the Republicans ; and so for five years they resisted 
all demands of the Republican members for dissolution. 

However, now that peace had been made, and the rebellion 
crushed, the Assembly felt compelled to replace the " provisional 
government" by some more regular form. Accordingly it made 
Thiers " President of the Republic," but it gave him no fixed term 
of office because the majority ofjthe Assembly hoped to change 
to a monarchy at some favorable moment. 

This presidency Tasted ' two years (1871-1873), and it saw 
France freed, from foreign occupation. Germany had expected 
the vast "war indemnity (which was to be paid in installments) 
to keep France weak for a long period ; and German garrisons 



FAILURE OF THE MONARCHISTS 549 

were to remain in France until payment was complete. But 
France astonished all beholders by her rapid recovery. In 
eighteen months the indemnity was paid in coin, and the 
last German soldier had left French soil. The government 
loans (p. 553) were taken up enthusiastically by all classes 
of Frenchmen, — in great measure by the industrious and 
prosperous peasantry. 

In 1873 a momentary coalition of Monarchists and Radicals ^^^t chance 
in the iVssembly forced Thiers to resign. In his place the Mon- archists : 
archists elected Marshal MacMahon, an ardent Orleanist. For MacMa- 
somc months a monarchic restoration seemed almost certain. Le- dency 
gitimists and Orleanists had at last united in support of the 
Count of Chambord, who agreed to adopt the Count of Paris as 
his heir. The Monarchists had the machinery of the government 
in their hands, and were just ready to^declare^the Bou^;bon heir 
the King of France, when the two factions split once more on the 
question of a symbol. The Orleanists wished to keep the tri- 
color, the flag of the 1830 Monarchy. But the Count of Cham- 
bord denounced the tricolor as thg. "symbol of revolution," 
and declared that he would not give up the white lilies of the 
old Bourbon monarchy, the symbol of divine right. On this 
scruple the chance of the Monarchists came to shipwreck. 

Then, in 1875, despairing of an immediate restoration, the As- The Consti- 
semhly adopted a constitution. Modified slightly by later amend- xhird Re- 
ments, this is the present constitution of the French Republic, public 
It has never been submitted to the people. '' 

The constitution is very brief, because the Monarchist major- 
ity preferred to leave the details to be settled by later legisla- 
tion, hoping to adapt them to a kingly government. The first 
draft spoke of a "Chief ^Executive." An amendment changed 
this title to " President ^of the Republic" ; but the change w^as 
adogtedby a majority of only one in a vote of 705. {In 1884 
a new amendment declared the republican form of government 
"not subject to repeal.'") 

The legislature consists of two Houses. The Senate contains 
three hundred members, holding office for nine years, one third 
going out each third year. (At first, seventy-five of the mem- 



550 THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 

bers were to hold office for life, but m ISS^^n amendment de- 
clared that no more life i^eijil^ers^should IjtjL^chosen.) The Dep 
uties (lower House) are chosen bj': manhood suffrage tor a term 
of four years. To amend the constitution, or to choose a Presi- 
dent, the hvo Houses meet together, at Versailles, away from possi- 
ble disturbances in Paris. In this jjoint form, thev tal^e the 
name National Assemhli). A majority vote^oi this^Natio^nal As- 
sembly suffices to change the constitution. 

The executive consists of a president, elected for seven years 
by the National Assembly, and of Tfie mmistry'TLe appoints. 
The presi(Tent has much less power" tTTan the president of the 
United States. The ministers wield enormous power. They 
direct all legislation, appoint a vast multitude of officers, 
and carry on the government. Nominally, the president ap- 
points the ministers ; but, in practice, he must name those who 
will be acceptable to the Deputies. The ministry is obliged to 
resign when it ceases to have a majoritv behind it. 

Neither France nor any other European republic gives to its judi- 
ciary the poiver to veto laws as unconstitutional (as our American 
Supreme Court may do). The legislature itself is the sole judge 
of the constitutionality of its acts. 
The Re Even after the adoption of the constitution, the Assembly did 

public se- j^Q^ ^\y^^ y^-^y jj^^ once to a new legislature. But almost every 

curclv cs- * 

tablished " by-election " (to fill a vacancy) resulted in a victory for the 

Republicans, and by 1876 that party had gained a majority 
^ of the seq^. It at once dissolved the Assembly, and the neiv 
elections created a Ilou^e of Deputies two thirds Republican. The 
Senate, with its seventy-five life-members, was still monarchic ; 
and, with its support, Mac^VIahon tried to keep a Monarchist 
ministrv. But under the leadership of the fierv Gambetta, 
the Deputies withheld all votes of supply, until MacMahon ap- 
pointed a ministry acceptable to it. hi 1870 the renewal of 
one third the Senate gave the Republicans a majority in that 
House also, and, soon after, Mac^Iahon resigned. Then the 
National Assembly elected a Republican president. 

For nearly a century, France had passed from revolution to 
revolution, until the world came to doubt whether any French 



LOCAL GOVERNMENT 551 

government could be stable. The present constitution of France Stability of 

is the eleventh since 1789. Four times between 1792 and 1871 J.^^ ^^p""^' 

lie 

had the Republicans seized Paris ; three times they had set up 
a republic ; but never before had they truly represented the 
deliberate determination of the whole people. In 1879 they 
came into power, not by violence, but by an eight years' con- 
stitutional struggle against the political tricks of an accidental 
Monarchist majority. This time it tvas the Republicans whom 
the conservative, peace-loving peasantry supported. Even the 
World War did not bring any thought of a change in govern- 
ment. 

The important units of local government are the Depart- Local 
ments and Communes (p. 418). For each Department the government 
Minister of the Interior appoints a prefect. Besides general 
executive power, this officer appoints police, postmen, and other 
local authorities. In each Department there is also a general 
council (elected by manhood suffrage), with control over local 
taxation — except that its decisions are subject to the approval 
of the central government. Indeed, the central government may 
dissolve a Departmental council at any time, and order a new 
election. 

The Communes of France (since the recovery of Alsace-Lor- 
raine in the World War) number about forty thousand. They 
vary in size from great cities to rural villages with only two or 
three hundred people. Each has a mayor and a council. Un- 
til 1884, the mayor was appointed by the Minister of the Interior ; 
since 1884, he has been elected by the municipal council. The 
central government, however, may revise his acts or even re- 
move him from office. The municipal council is elected by 
manhood suffrage ; but its acts are subject to the approval of 
the prefect of the Department or of the central government. 

Such conditions do not seem very encouraging at first to an 
American student ; but, as compared with the past in France, 
the situation is full of promise. Political interest is steadily 
growing in the Communes, and Frenchmen arc learning more and 
more to use the field of self-government open to them. 



552 



THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC 



No bill of 
rights 



Administra- 
tive courts 



Unlike the previous French constitutions, the present con- 
stitution has no ''hill of rights." That is, it has no provisions 
regarding jury trial, habeas corpus privileges, or the right of 
free speech. Even if it had, the courts could not protect the 
individual from arbitrary acts of the government by appealing 
to such provisions, because, in case of conflict between a citizen 
and the government, the suit is tried, not in the ordinary courts, 
but in administrative courts, made up of government officials. 
As a rule, the administrative courts mete out fair treatment; 
but in case of any supposed danger to the government, they 
may become its champions — at the expense of the rights of 
a citizen.^ It is only too true, however, that in times of excited 
feeling otlier democracies with long bills of rights have shown 
quite as serious a disregard of personal liberty. 



Education The zeal of the early Revolutionists for education (p. 429) 

was not given time to produce results ; and the restored mon- 
archy gave little attention to public schools. In 1S27 a third 
of the Communes of France had no primary school ivhatever, and 
nearly a third of the population could neither read nor write. 
The real growth of popular education dates from the Third 
Republic. To-day, in every Commune there is a primary school 
or group of schools. Education is free and compulsory, and 
the central government appoints teachers and regulates the 
courses of study. Each Department has an excellent system 
of secondary schools, called lycees; and the higher institutions 
are among the most famous in the world. 

Industry The advance of industry in the forty-three years between 

the Franco-Prussian and the World \Yar was enormous. The 
yearly production of wealth tripled (though the population 
slightly decreased). Coal mines turned out four times as much 
coal in 1911 as in 1871, and the number of patents granted in 
1911 was five times as many as in 1871. (It is to be kept in 
mind, too, that Germany had taken from France — in Alsace- 
Lorraine — its richest iron districts.) 

1 Special report : the Dreyfus trials. 



EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 553 

This progress is the more remarkable when we remember The French 
that France is preeminently an agricultural country. The pecul- P^^^^^^^y 
iar thing about French society, down to the World War, was 
the number of small land-owners and the prosperity of this 
landed peasantry. In 1900, more than half the entire popu- 
lation lived on the soil, and three fourths the soil was under 
crops. The great mass of cultivators owned little farms of 
from five to fifty acres. France supplied her population with 
foodstuffs, and exported a large surplus. The subdivision of 
the soil was carried so far that it was difficult to introduce the 
best machinery (though neighborhood associations were being 
founded to own machinery in common). The peasant was in- Population 
telligent, industrious, thrifty, prosperous, happy, and conserv- stationary 
ative. He wished to educate his son, and he had a high standard 
of living, compared with other European peasantry. With five 
or six children, a farmer owning five or ten acres found it al- 
most impossible to keep up this standard, and to leave his chil- 
dren as well off as he himself had been. Therefore the peasantry 
have not wished large families, and for a long time population 
has been almost stationary. (By the census of 1911 it was a 
little under forty millions, and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine, 
with its two millions of people, somewhat more than balances 
in numl)ers the losses in the War.) 

Before the War this population was a " nation of little savers," A nation of 
and consequently a nation of money lenders. Through the 
nineteenth century, England had been the world's banker. In 
1900, France was beginning to hold that place. After 1900, 
when a government wished to "float" a huge loan, or when 
capitalists wished to finance some vast industrial enterprise, 
France commonly furnished the cash. England still had more 
wealth than France; but it was largely "fixed" in long-time 
investments, while French wealth was held by a great number 
of people of small means, all seeking constantly for investments. 
The French national debt was not held, like the American or 
the English, in 1911, by men of great wealth, in large amounts, 
but by some 3,000,000 French people, — shopkeepers, clerks, 
artisans, day-laborers, small farmers, — in small amounts. 



Uttle 
capitaUsts 



554 



FRANCE SINCE 1871 



The French government under the Third RepubHc had encour- 
aged this tendency of the workingman to "invest" savings, 
by putting bonds on sale at every village post office in small 
denominations — as low even as one franc (20 cents). (This 
admirable plan of encouraging all citizens to become "bond- 
holders" — and "stockholders in the national prosperity" — 
was adopted by the United States, with the War Savings 
Stamps, during the World War.) 

German invasion in 1914-1918 has made much of the fairest 
part of France a hideous desert, and has drained the rest of 
workers and of wealth. Up to this writing (December, 1921) 
the return of material prosperity is sadly delayed. 



French poli- 
tics : shift- 
ing minis- 
tries 



Politics in France have been, much of the time, upon a lower 
le\el than business life. The best minds of France have not 
been present in the Assembly. That body has been broken 
into many parties, and the ministries have been kaleidoscopic 
in their changes. This meant woeful confusion and in- 
efhciency ; and the government has suffered from red tape and 
from a widespread taint of corruption in politics. After 1900 
the Socialists gained power rapidly ; and, in the election of 
1914, they became the largest of the nine parties in the Assembly. 
All recent ministries had contained leading Socialists, but the 
war called back to power more conservative statesmen — in 
the war ministry of Clemenceau, "the Tiger." 



Loss of the 
old colonies 



A new 
colonial 
empire since 
1830 



French 
Algeria 



About 1750 J'range. bade fgir toj^ the_grgat colonial power 
of the worjdj Thirteen years later saw her stripped of all 
possessions outside Europe, except a few unimportant islands in 
the Indian Ocean and in the Antilles and some small ports in 
India (p. 399) . In the nineteenth century France became again a 
colonial power. In 1830 the^ovemmg^it of Charles ^ took ad- 
vantage of an insult by tl]^ Dey of Algiers to a French consul 
to seize territory in North Africa. In the middle of the cen- 
tury this foothold had grown, through savage and bloody w^ars, 
into complete^jccupancy of Algeria. The Third Republic intro- 
duced civil rule, and since 1880, Algeria has been not so much 



COLONIAL EMPIRE 555 

.1 forei<^n possession, or a colony, as a part of France separated 
from the rcstLy a strip of sea. The French make only a small 
part of the population. It Is true, but the country Is orderly and 
civilized. The settled portion, near the coast, Is divided Into 
Departments, like those In European France, with represent- 
atives In the French legislature. The Inland parts are still 
barbarous and disorderly, but to this long-desolate Barbary 
coast, French rule has restored the fertility and bloom that be- 
longed to It as the garden of the ancient Roman world. 

Nearly all the rest of the vast French colonial empire has been And Tunis 
secured since the Franco-Prussian War. Algeria was one of 
five great states on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, — Mo- 
rocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt. All five had long been 
virtually Independent Mohammedan kingdoms, though In name 
they had remained part of the decaying Turkish Empire. And 
all five, until Europeans stepped In, were in a vicious state of 
misrule, disorder, and tyranny. We have seen how In 1881 
Egypt fell under England's "protection." France c^ulckly 
regretted that she had so easily given up her claim to share in 
ffiat rich land, and In the same year she seized gladly upon dis- 
orders in Tunis as an excuse for extending her authority, from 
Algeria eastward, over that country. In 1904 she began in And 
like fashion to extend her sway In North Africa toward" the west ; °^°^^° 
establishing a protectorate over part of Morocco. 

Before seizing upon Tunis in 1881 — an act sure to arouse German 
violent resentment In Italy, which looked upon Tunis as her ""^^^^^^ 
own prey — the French government thought it necessary to 
lay its plans before Bismarck. That astute statesman at that 
time had not begun to have any colonial ambition for Germany, 
and he encouraged the French project, welcoming the chance 
to arouse hostility between France and Italy. (Indeed, with 
characteristic crookedness, he at the same moment encouraged 
Italy to hope for Tunis.) Soon afterward, however (p. 567), 
Germany herself entered the race for colonial empire ; and In 
191I_ajx_.extension of French rule In Morocco almost plunged 
Europe into war. William II of Germany sent a warship to 



556 



FRANCE SINCE 1871 



Other 
French 
colonies in 
Africa 



And in Asia 



French co 
lonial ad- 
ministration 



Church 
and state 



Aga/dk^a harbor of Morocco, and " rattled the saber in the scab- 
bard/' But England supported France; and Germany was 
finally appeased by European consent to her seizing territory 
in the Karaerun (West Africa) and by the cession J;o her of part 
of the French Congo territory^ 

France has huge possessions in other parts of Africa, 
on both the east and west coasts, besides the great island of 
Madagascar (map facing p. 603). In America she holds Gui- 
ana (Cayenne), with a few ports in the Antilles. In Oceanica, 
between 1884 and 1887 she obtained New Caledonia and several 
smaller islands. Her most important colonies, outside Africa, 
are in the peninsula of Indo-China in southeastern Asia. Na- 
poleon III seized Cambodia and Cochin China ; and the Third 
Republic, with little more scruple, seized Tonking in 1884, Anam 
in 1886, and Siam to the Mekong in a savage war in 1893-1896. 
For many years, moreover, the "imperialistic" forces in France 
("jingo" politicians and some large business interests) have 
sought an indirect control in Syria much like that which Ger- 
many was trying to establish in Asia Minor. 

At the same time, France is not herself a colonizing nation — 
any more than in the seventeenth century (p. 388). Even in 
the settled portions of her colonial empire the European popu- 
lation is small. The total area of the colonial possessions is 
about four million square miles, of which about three and a 
half million are in Africa. The orderly regions have a share in 
self-government, and most of them have representatives in the 
legislature at Paris. 

Down to the World War, the most critical contest in the Third 
Republic was the Kulturkampf, the struggle between church 
and state for the control of education and indeed of other family 
relations. At the creation of the Third Republic, the state 
paid the expenses of all organized churches, Catholic, Protes- 
tant, or Mohammedan. Seventy-eight per cent of the French 
people in 1900 were members of the Catholic church ; ^ but, even 

^ Alohammedanism is confined to Algeria. Two per cent of the people 
of France in 1900 were Protestants. Nearly twenty per cent had no church 
connection. 



CHURCH AND STATE 557 

in so strongly Catholic a land, the people felt much distrust of 
2)olitical influence from the Catholic clergy. 

This was largely because during the strenuous period from 
1871 to .1879 the clergy threw their influence on the side of the 
IVIonarchists. Cried Gambetta, in one of his fiery orations, — 
"Clericalism! That is our foe." Accordingly, when the Re- 
publicans came into power, they hastened to weaken the church 
by taking from it its ancient control over the family. Marriage 
was made a civil contractljto be performed by a rnagistrate) 
instead of a sacrament; divorce was legalized, despite the 
teachings of the Catholic church against it; and all religious 
orders were forbidden to teach in either public or private schools. 

For a time, extreme Catholics were driven into opposition 
to the government; but the wise Pope Leo XIII moderated 
the bitterness of the pohtical warfare by recommending that 
French Catholics "rally" to the Republic and try to get the 
privileges they needed by influencing legislation (1893). On 
its side, the government then for a time let some of the anti- 
clerical laws rest unenforced. But about 1900, the Repub- 
licans and Radicals became alarmed again at the evidence of 
Monarchic sympathies still existing among the aristocracy, 
and even among arm}^ officers, and convinced themselves that 
these sympathies were due to the remaining clerical influence 
in the schools. In the years 1901-1903, thousands of church 
schools were closed by the politic, sometimes amid riots and 
bloodshed. Pope Pius X protested, and deposed two French 
bishops who had acquiesced in the government's policy. The 
government recalled its ambassador from the papal court, and 
prepared a plan which it called "separation of church and 
state. " 

A law of 1905 declared the nation the owner of all chuich 
property in France. Each religious congregation, however, was 
invited to reorganize as a self-supporting "cultural association," 
with the permanent %ise of its old property. Protestant churches 
complied; but such organization was forbidden to Catholics 
by the pope as incompatible with the principles of the church. 

In the elections of 1906, however, the nation gave an over- 



558 FRANCE SINCE 1871 

whelming, indar^ement to the whole anti-cI^rical policy; and 
then the government evicted great numbers of Catholic clergy 
from their homes (for refusing to obey the law of 1905) and 
banished multitudes of them from the country. In 1914, when 
the great European war began, two thousand of these banished 
priests returned to France to fight in the ranks against the in- 
vaders of their country. 

For Further Reading. — Hazen, Andrews, or Hayes. On the 

constitution, Lowell's Greater European Governments. For recent 
changes, The Statesman's Year Book or The World Almanac. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE 
1871-1914 

SCALE OF MILES 



T 



r-v^. 



58 



' ' "" 1 1 -r 1 ' 1 r 1 

20 40 60 80 100 120 110 100 180 200 



S E A 

*'£t-G0LAN0« 



Cukhaver 



<^ 






ju«pb)j 






^"l/tie 



^ 



,>--'* 



r>«(N 



I tiwiabrij'ck 



O 



.anai 



liinster 



vr"u.o 



^ 



^ 









/ jy ^Aachen „ V- ^ S ,' ^ . 

^\ -Bon 



50 



/ P R V 






V 






.Cobufg 1 



/oRheims 



'V 



Tr, 



eves- 



-? 



^EMeURG 

'•Kaiserslant 



Manij 

:erno 



? Darms't 



lirzburg 



.Bamber.?"^?"* ' 



f>' fALATlilATE 



4v'> Fiirth' 



burff 



V 



Cilet 



z ^ 



^'ancyV, 



^ 



Strasburs : 
I 



"■jAKarTsruLfe 

"i-i o^tuttgart 



luie 



\A Miilhaus 



W 



^'T. 



nrcERi 



Im ofAugsbi 



inlch 



\L-' 



jConstance 

S Vv- 1 T Z E R T V 



Rati; 



•_ 






f 



CHAPTER LVIII 
THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1918 

The Germanic Confederation of 1814-1867 was a loose con- 
federacy of sovereign states. The German Empire of 1871- 
1918 was a federal state. The central government was strength- 
ened by the change, somewhat as was ours in America when 
we exchanged our Articles of Confederation for our present 
Constitution. 

But this German "federated" Empire was made up not of A despotic 
republican states but of monarchic states (4 kingdoms^ 18^ federal state 
duchies, 3 "free cities"). The controlling body in the Empire 
was the Federal Council, consisting durmg most of its history 
of 5(3 delegates, appointed by the rulers of the different states The Federal 
and directed from day to jay by those princes. This council °"^"^ 
(Bundesrath) prepared measures for the legislature, and had a 
veto upon all l^ws. 

The imperial legislature was the Reichstag — a one-House The 
assembly elected by manhood suffrag^^.Oi the^3 9 7.^ delegates, ^^^^^stag 
j^russia ha(| 236. Practically, the power of this assembly was 
limited to accepting or rejecting proposals from the Bundesrath. 
Even its control over taxation was incomplete. Most revenue 
measures were standing laws. That is, once passed, they could 
not be changed without the consent of the Bundesrath. The 
imperial ministry, appointed by the Emperor, was called "re- 
sponsible," but not in the English sense: it was not obliged 
to resign when defeated in the Reichstag. 

The im perial government was frugal and efficient. It made The Empire 

justice in the courts easy to secure ; it guarded against food ^ paternal 

" . . despotism 

adulteration long before the rest of the world did ; and in other 

ways it zealously protected tlj^ £ai])lic , health. But alongside Militarism 

this watchful pater*: alism, there were grievous faults. Ger- 

559 



560 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1918 



No security 
for personal 
liberty 



The 

Emperor 
an autocrat 



The Prus- 
sian consti- 
tution, 
1848-1918 



Divine- 
right 
emperors 



Kaiser 
WilUam U 



many had been made by violence, and the result showed in the 
spirit of militarism and ifi the predomiiiance of the methods of the 
drill sergeant. Police rule was all-pervading. Said a keen for- 
eign observer (1896) : " To live in Germany always seems 
to me like a return to the nursery." Even worse was the con- 
temptuous and oftentimes brutal treatment of civilians by army 
officers. For years the newspapers contained reports of gross 
and unprovoked insults, and sometimes of violent assaults, 
by officers upon unoffending citizens, for which it was difficult 
to obtain redress in the courts. There was no security for per- 
sonal rights. Trial by jury, freedom of the press, freedom of 
public meetings, and free speech existed only in a limited degree. 
To criticize the emperor in the press, ever so lightly, was likely 
to land the offender in jail for a considerable term. 

In theory, the emperor was only the life president of the 
federation. But this life presidency was hereditary in the kings 
of Prussia. The emperor was head of the army ; and through 
his control over the ministry and over so large a part of the Bun- 
desrath (he appointed the large Prussian delegation) he con- 
trolled all foreign relations and virtually held a veto upon all 
domestic legislation. He held still mightier authority in the Em- 
pire from his position as despotic ruler of Prussia. Prussia had 
three fifths of the population of the Empire, and more than 
that part of the power. Her divine-ri^ht "constitution" was 
the one " granted" by the king in '48 (p. 488). Jtjeft .tke Js:ing 
virtually an autocrat in Pruss^ ; and Prussia'j^power made him 
an autocrat in the Empire. 

At his coronation, William I took the crown from the com- 
munion table, declaring, " The crown comes only from God, and 
I have received it from His hands." In 1888 William was suc- 
ceeded by his son, Frederick III. Frederick was an admirer 
^f parliamentary government upon the English pattern; but 
his three months' reign brought no change in the government. 

William II, the son of Frederick^ returned to the principles 
of his grandfather. As a youth, he had been a great admirer of 
Bismarck ; but it soon became plain that the two men were each 
too masterful to work together, and in 1890 the emperor curtly 



WILLIAM 11 561 

dismissed the chancellor from office. Thereafter, William II 
liimself directed the policy of the Empire, and he was a greater 
force in European politics than any other sovereign in Europe. 
He believed thoroughly in the "divine-right" theory, and he 
repeatedly stated it in as strikmg a form as ever did James I 
of England or Louis XIV of France, two or three centuries ago. 
In the Visitors' Bools: in the Town Hall of Munich, he wrote, 
"The will of the king is the supreme law." In an address to 
his army, he said: "On me, as German Emperor, the spirit of 
God has descended. I am His sword and His Vice-regent." 
"All-Highest" was a recognized form of address for the em- 
peror. And the phrase ironically attributed to him — " Me 
und Gott" — is no great exaggeration of the patronizing way 
in which he often referred to the Almighty as a partner in his 
enterprises. 

Some survey like the foregoing is needful to guard us against Germany 
the "tyranny of names." England and Germany in 1914 were ^" ^^*° 
both " constitutional monarchies" ; but that does not mean that 
they were in any way alike, even in government. They stood 
at the two poles of government. England had a democratic 
government, in which the monarchic and aristocratic survivals 
were practically powerless — mere matters of form ; the Ger- 
man Empire was one of the most absolute autocracies in the 
world. England's ideals were based upon industry and world- 
peace : Germany's ideals were based upon militarism and con- 
quest. Englishmen thought of the "state" as a condition for 
the full development of the individual man : Germans thought 
of individual men as existing primarily for the sake of the ab- 
solutist state. 

This divine-right militaristic autocracy^was upheld (1) by the Junkers and 
landed squires, or junkers, and (2) by the capitalists. The ^^^^ ^ ^ ^ 
junkers were rural and largely a Prussian class, especially strong 
toward the east. The capitalists were a new class in Germany. 
The "industrial revolution," with the factory system, which 
had grown up in England before 1800 and in France by 1825, 



562 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1918 



The Prus 
sian army 
system 



Europe 
adopts the 
German 
army sys- 
tem 



did not begin to make headwaj^ in Germany until nearly 1870. 
Then, indeed, manufactures and trade grew by leaps — aided 
by the coal and iron of Alsace-Lorraine and b^^ subsidies from 
the huge war indemnity just then robbed of France.^ The 
whole artisan class was trained to "efficiency" in trade schools, 

— which were distinctly class schools, suited on this German 
plan to an undemocratic land only, in which the son of an artisan 
must look for no "higher" station than his father. And on 
the other hand there appeared a new figure in German life, the 
princely manufacturing capitalist. After 1880, the thousands 
of this class took their place — alongside the junker nobility 

— as a chief support of German autocracy, with a vivid e^^pecta- 
tion of favors to be received in form of special privileges. 

German autocracy had also its physical arm. After 1866, 
the Prussiaji a^m^sy§tem_.^yas extended oyer all Germany. At 
twenty each man was compelled to enter the ranks for two years' 
active service. For five years more he was a member of the 
"active reserves," with two months in camp each year. These 
reserves were to be called out for regular service in case of war. 
For twelve years more he was listed in the territorial reserve 

— liable for garrison duty in time of war, and even for front 
rank service in special need. Exemption from training was 
usually allowed to the only son of a dependent widow and to 
those unfit because of physical defects. 

The Prussian. yictories of 1866 and 1870 convinced all Europe 
of the superiority of thi§^ system over the old' professional 
armies, and nearly every, state in Europe soon adopted it, with 
slight variations. The burden was enormous — the most woeful 
waste of human energy the world ever saw — and the direct 
cost was far less than the indirect cost involved in withdraw- 
ing so large a part of each man's best years from productive 



1 All this meant a tremendous growth of cities. Hamburg grew from 

350.000 people in 1870 to 1,000,000 in 1910; Berlin from 820,000 to 

2,000,000 ; Essen from 50,000 to 300,000 ; while many wholly new centers 

of trade appeared where had been only farming hamlets. The population 

jyi the Emiiii:e,^oubled in these forty years, and all this increase was a city 

Increase. "** "■** •'^ *^ "• — — ..^^ 



MILITARISM 563 

work. (England, trusting to her navy, and the United States, 
trusting to her position, were the only large countries that dared 
refuse the crushing burden — and for England the cost of her 
navy was almost as serious.) 

Worse still, this militarism was a constant temptation to 
war. Rulers could not but regret leaving their costly tools 
to rust unused. Thousands of ambitious young officers in every 
land necessarily looked forward to war as a chance to justify 
their training and their cost, to the nation. And in the whole 
population, militarism developed a disposition to trust to force 
in dealing with other nations, rather than to good-will and reason. 

Even worse, militarism develops a state of mind hostile to 
true democracy at home. Men come to exalt the army above 
the civil authorities, and to adopt a servile attitude toward 
autocratic army officers. All these evils were found in surprising 
degree in the German Empire, as compared with the rest of 
Europe, and in Prussia as compared with the rest of Germany. 

For nearly^Jwcnty years after the Empire was established, Bis- Bismarck's 
marck directed its course. The "Iron Chancellor" was a ruler "^^^ 
of tremendous power of will ; but he carried his policy of " blood 
and iron" into civil affairs — and failed. Three contests fill 
the period. 

1. The Empire had brought Catholic and^ Protestant Ger- The stmg- 
many under one government — which prepared the way for ^ ^^*j! 
conflict. The first struggle, however, came within the Catho- olic 
lie church. In 1870 a General Council of the church declared ^^^^^^ 
the pope infalUl)le tincapaBle of errofj* in promulgating doc- 
trines of faith and ^morals. Many of the German Catholic 
clergy refused assent to this "innovation" in doctrine (as 
they regarded it) and took the name of Old Catholics. The 
orthodox bishops attacked this sect vigorously, and expelled 
instructors in the schools who did not teach the dogma of 
infallibility. 

Then Bismarck stepped in to defend the Old Catholics and 
io assert the supremacy of the state over the church. Under 
his influence, th^ legislature expelled the Jesuits from Germany, 



564 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1918 



Bismarck 
and the 
Socialists 



Repres- 
sion fails 
again 



and took marriage and all education, private and public (even 
the education of the clergy) from the control of the church. To 
enforce these laws, priests were deprived of ofEce, and were 
even punished by long terms of imprisonment or by exile. 
When the pope declared that the anti-clerical laws ought not 
to be obeyed, Bismarck confiscated ecclesiastical salaries 
and took into the government's hands all the property and 
revenues of the church. From 1875 to 1879, one fifth the par- 
ishes in Prussia had no clergy ; schools and seminaries were 
closed ; chairs of theology in the universities were vacant ; 
houses of the clergy were raided by the police ; and numbers 
of men of devoted Christian lives and broad scholarship lan- 
guished in prison. 

This persecution, however, steadily lost favor among the 
people. A strong and growing "Catholic" party in the Reichs- 
tag, "the CetUer,'' hampered all Bismarck's projects; and finally 
he was forced to make term^j^witji it, in order to secure the legis- 
lation he desired^ against the Socialists and for tariffs. In 1880 
the government began its retreat ; and it abandoned step by step 
every position it had assumed in the quarrel. 

2. Socialism did not become prominent in Germany until 
after 1848. German Socialism was founded by Karl Marx 
(p. 477), but its teachings were thrown among the masses by 
Lassalle, a brilliant writer and orator. When manhood suf- 
frage was introduced (in the election of the Reichstag of the 
North German Confederation), the__SQ!piali§ts got their first 
chance. They held eight seats in the Reichstag of 1867. Faith- 
ful to their doctrine of human brotherhood, these men in 1870 
earnestly opposed the war with France, especially after it be- 
came a war for conquest. This " unpatriotic" attitude resulted 
in a check. The leaders were tried for treason and condemned 
to years of imprisonment ; and in the first Imperial Reichstag 
(1871) the party had pnly two repropentatives. But in 1874 
the number nad risen to nine, and in 1877, to twelve. 

Bismarck then began to feel it neeclful to put down Socialism. 
His first effort to secure repressive laws from the Reichstag failed, 
but it called out two attempts by Socialist fanatics to assas- 



BISMARCK AND SOCIALISM 565 

sinate the emperor (1877, 1878). This played into Bismarck's 
hands and made the Reichstag read}^ to go all lengths against 
the "Red Specter." New laws gave the government authority 
to dissolve associations, break up meetings, confiscate puV)li- 
cations, and imprison or banish suspects hy decree. Not con- 
tent with these extraordinary powers, Bismarck made them 
retroactive, and at once banished from Berlin sixty or 
seventy men who had formerly been connected with the So- 
cialists. 

The Socialists met this ruthless severity with as much forti- 
tude as the Catholic clergy had shown in their conflict. So- 
cialism for a time became an underground current. In 1881, 
just after the beginning of the repressive legislation, the Socialist 
vote fell off somewhat ; but in the election of 1884 it had risen 
to over half a million — much more than ever before — and 
in 1887 it was over three fourths of a million. Then the re- 
pressive laws were allowed to expire. Again the Iron Chan- 
cellor had failed. 

During the latter part of the struggle, Bismarck used also a Bismarck 

wiser policy. He tried to cut the ground from under the feet of *"®.^ ,^*^*® 
1 o. . 1 . • ' - 1 • ***.•, • , . . socialism 

the Socialist agitators by improving the condition of the work- 

ing classes, along lines pointed out by the Socialists themselves. 
In 1884 he said, ^ " Giye_the workingman the right to work 
while he is well, and assure him care when lie is sick, and main- 
tenance when he is old, and the Social Democrats will get no 
hold upon him." In accordance with this program, Bismarck 
favored the introduction of great public works to afford employ- 
ment, and he created a state fund to help insure the injured 
and the aged. 

In this " Social insurance," Germany was a pioneer — though 
England and France have since passed by her. The legislation, 
however, did not weaken Social Democracy. Indeed the So- 
cialists railed at it as fear -inspired, poor-law legislation. To 
Bismarck, and to William II, it was the duty of the divine-right 
government to care for the laborer. To the Social Democrats, 
it was the right of the laborers themselves to control the govern- 
ment and to care for themselves through it. 



566 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1918 



Growth of 
the Social- 
ist party 



It is convenient here to carry the topic of Socialism down 
to the Great War. After 1898 the SociaHsts were much the 
largest pohtical party, gaining heavil\^ in every election. In 
1912 the total vote, 12,188,000, was split among fifteen parties, 
but the Socialists cast 4,239,000 of those votes — or more than 
twice as many as any other party. This was largely, no doubt, 
Because the Socialist conventions had put first in their plat- 
forms a number of practical political and economic inca.sures 
which the average American or Englishman would not regard 
as dangerous, — such as universal suffrage (including " votes 
for women"), the initiative and referendum, equal electoral 
districts, payment of members of the Reichstag, and responsi- 
bility of the government to the Reichstag. 



Bismarck 
and the 
frontier 
peoples 



Growth of 

German 

commerce 



3. Equally violent, and more long-continued, was Bismarck's 
effort to Germanize th^ Poles j)f Ppsen, the Danes of Sleswig, 
and the French of Alsace. To each of these subject peoples, 
Germany forbade the use of its own language. The Sleswig 
Danes were not allowed to teach any history in their schools 
prior to the time when they were seized by Prussia. The Poles 
were tempted by the government to sell their lands to German 
immigrants ; and, when instead they sold cheap to their own 
race, the lands were seized by the government (with compen- 
sation). But even then the Germans whom the government 
induced to settle in Posen rapidly became Poles in feeling, as 
those induced to settle in Alsace often became French. To 
the end, the delegates in the Reichstag from these three dis- 
tricts were always "in opposition" to the government. The 
Prussian system, begotten of force, had confidence only in force 
— and so proved itself unfit for the problems of modern life.^ 

In still another matter, Bismarck's failure was less blamable. 
The old Germany of his youth had been an agricultural country. 
Foreign trade had been of little consequence. The new com- 
mercial Germany that grew up after 1870 he never felt any 

1 There should be no trouble in distinguishing between this policy of 
forceful Germanization of wnwilling, conquered subjects, and our American- 
ization, by inducement, of those foreigners who of their own will have sought 
homes in our midst. 



BISMARCK AND COLONIAL EMPIRE 



567 



real sympathy for; but after a short resistance, in 1878, he 
yielded to its demands for high protective tariffs. But the man- 
ufacturing iittt nst began carhj tn cdll also for a colonial em- 
Jiirr_, outside Europe, as a safe and "sole" market; and this 
demand Bismarck resisted for years. 

But the manufacturers' 
demand for colonies was 
supported also by a 
people's demand. After 
1880 the label "Made in 
Germany " began to be 
seen on all sorts of articles 
in all parts of the world, 
and before 1900 Germany 
had passed all countries 
except England and the 
United States in manu- 
factures and trade. Still 
the nation was not con- 
tent. Population was 
growing rapidly, and 
many millions had sought 
homes in other lands, 
mamly m the United 
States and in Argentina 
and Brazil. And so in 



The de- 
mand for a 
colonial 
empire 




Bismarck, after dismissal from office. — 
From a photograph. 



1884, partly to meet the commercial demands of the capitalists, 
and partly to keep future German emigrants under the Ger- 
man flag, Bismarck reluctantly adopted the policy of acquiring 
colonies. 

At that tmie Germany had no possessions outside Europe, and 
no war navy. But, though late in entering the scramble for 
foreign possessions, she made rapid progress, especially after 
the young William II dismissed Bismarck from office in 1890. 
W illiam stopd^ not for Bismarck's policy of preserving the great 
existin£_Germanj^j)f that_dfty,. but for a new "JPan-German " 
policy of making Germany great^er — by means even more un- 



Growth of 
the co- 
lonial em- 
pire 

And the fall 
of Bis- 
marck 



568 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1918 



Germany 
the protec- 
tor of 
Turkey 



scrupulous than those Bismarck had used — until she should 
be world-mistress. 

Thereafter the colonial empire mounted by leaps. At the 
opening of the World War, Germany had vast possessions in 
Africa, a million square miles in all, mainly on the Guinea coast 
and in South Africa on both east and west coasts (map facing 
p. 603), many valuable groups of islands in the Pacific, and the 
Shantung province of China.^ None of these acquisitions, how- 
ever, interested German ambition so deeply as did one other ad- 
vance — into Asia Minor — which began in earnest about 1900. 
Germany, did not get absolute title to territory there ; but she 
did secure from Turkey various ric]i concessions, guaranteeing 
her for long periods the sole right to build and operate railroads 
and to develop valuable mining and oil resources. This " eco- 
nomic penetration" she expected confidently to convert into 
full ownership. 

To secure such concessions, Germany sought the Turk's favor 
in shameful ways. A growing moral sense in international 
matters made it impossible for England after 1880 to bolster 
longer the dastard Turkish rule over subject Christian peoples ; 
but her old place was taken gladly by Germany, which loaned 
to the Sultan skilled officers to reorganize his armies and supplied 
him with the mo^t effecti\'e arms against revolt bv Christian 
natives (as in the Turkish war with Greece in 1897 over 
Cretan freedom). 

This important change of English and German policy ap- 
peared, plainly during the horrible "Armenian Massacres" of 
1894-1895. To check a probable move For Armenian inde- 
pendence, the Turkish government turned loose upon that un- 
happy province — for the first of several times to come — 
hordes of savage soldiery to carry out a policy of frightfulness 
by licensed murder, pillage, and ravishment of a peaceful popu- 
lation. At once the English people in monster mass meetings 



^ Two German missionaries were murdered in China in 1897, and the 
Kaiser made that a pretext for this last seizure. A German SociaUst paper 
in a satirical cartoon represented him as saving, — "If only my missionaries 
hold out, I may become master of all Asia." 



COLONIAL EXPANSION 569 

called upon their government to intervene by arms. But Russia, 
fearful lest her Armenians might be encouraged to rebel, sup- 
ported Turkey ; France, just then hostile to England in colonial 
matters and bound to Russia as an all}^ took the same side ; 
and the German emperor chose this moment to send his photo- 
graph and that of his wife to the Assassin-in-chief of Turkey, 
to show his friendly adherence. From his retirement (p. 527) 
the aged Gladstone once more lifted his voice, urging that even 
under these hopeless conditions, England sliould alone take up 
the work of mercy ; but the Tory prime minister, Lord Salis- 
bury, confessing regretfully that in 1854 and 1878 "we put our 
money on the wrong horse," felt powerless to act. 

This sharp opposition of policy was one reason why Germany William 
came to look upon England as the chief foe to her expansion. ^ 
Accordingly Kaiser William determined to make Germany a great 
naval power. He constructed the Kiel Canal, so that the navy 
might have perfect protection, and so that it might instantly 
concentrate in either the North Sea or the Baltic , and year 
by year, against violent Socialist resistance, he forced vast ap- 
"propriations through the Reichstag to construct more and huger 
superdread noughts . 

For Further Reading. — Dawson's Bismarck and State Socialism 
and Russell's German Social Democracy are good treatments of their 
subjects. Davis' Roots of the War is especially good upon the old Ger- 
many, pp. 24-38, 162-248. 

Review Exercise. — Make a "brief," or outline, for the history of 
Germany from the French Revolution to the World War. Do the like 
for France and for England. 



CHAPTER LIX 



OTHER STATES OF CENTRAL EUROPE 



I. ITALY 



Government 



Education 



The 

crushing 
army 
system 



The constitution of Italy is the one given to Sardinia in 1848 
(p. 496). It provides for a limited monarchy with a ministry 
"responsible" to the legislature. Until 1882 voting was re- 
stricted by a high property qualification to about one man in 
seven, but by 1913, by successive steps, virtual manhood fran- 
chise had been established. Local government is patterned 
upon that of France. 

In 1861 Italy had no schools except those taught by religious 
orders, and only 26 per cent of the population (above six years 
of age) could read and write. The next twenty years, through 
the introduction of a fair system of free public schools, increased 
this percentage to 38 ; and twenty years more, to 44. The 
higher educational institutions are excellent; and in history 
and science Italian scholars hold high rank. 

The kingdom of Italy at its l)irth was far behind the other 
great states of Europe. Its proper tasks were to provide for 
public education, to repress brigandage, to build railroads, to 
foster useful industries, to drain malarial swamps and reclaim 
abandoned lands, and to develop the abundant water power on 
the east slope of the Apennines so as to furnish electric power 
for manufacturing (particularly necessary since Italy has no 
coal). Progress in all this has been hindered by the poverty of 
the people and by tremendous expenses for military purposes. 
Italy was freed by force of arms, in 1859-1861. The new-born 
state, for many years more, feared that the work might be un- 
done by France or Austria ; so it adopted the usual European 
military system, with even longer terms of active service than 
were required in Germany or France. 

570 



ITALY 571 

Taxation is crushing ; and yet, much of the time, the govern- Taxation 
ment can hardly meet expenses. For many years even before 
the World War, a fourth of the revenue went to pay the interest 
on the national debt, and a large part of the rest was for military 
purposes, leaving only a small part for the usual and helpful 
purposes of go\'ernment. To make ends meet, the government 
was driven to desperate expedients. Salt and tobacco were 
made government monopolies ; the state ran a lottery ; and 
taxation upon houses, land, and incomes was so exorbitant as 
seriously to hamper industry. 

Economic distress led to political and socialistic agitation. Agitation 
The government at first met this by stern repressive legislation. politics 
Socialists and Republicans were imprisoned by himdreds ; and 
for years at a time large parts of Italy were in " state of siege," 
or under martial law. The Radicals and Socialists, however, 
gained slowly in the parliament ; and after 1900 violent repres- 
sion was given up. Then at once it appeared, as in France, 
that the Socialists were a true political party ; and of late 
years they have been strong even in the ministries. 

A large emigration leaves Italy each year, mainly for Brazil Army, navy, 
and the Argentine Republic. Partly i n hope to retain these ^"^ *!^® 
emigrants as Italian citizens, the government took up a policy empire 
of securing colonies. Indeed the new-born kingdom of Italy 
almost at once l)egan to dream of renewing ancient Italian con- 
trol in the Mediterranean. Just across from Sicily lay Tunis, 
one of the rich but anarchic pro^'inces of the deca^dng Turkish 
Empire. To be ready to seize this plum when ripe, Italy began 
to build a navy, and, at crushing cost, she finally made hers 
among the most powerful in the world. But before she was 
quite ready to act, France stepped in (p. 555). Bitterly cha- 
grined, Ital^then u sed h er military_and naval force to secure 
valuable territory on the coast of Abyssinia (1885), and 
(1912- 1913) to seize Tripoli from Turkey. 

Another difficulty about territory long troubled Italy. .When Italia 
Austria gavejback "^Venetia" to Italy in 18G7, it was not by ^''^'^denta 
any means the ancient Venetia in extent. . Old Venetia had- 
reached down the east coast of the Adriatic, through Dalmatia ; 



church 



572 CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 

and the modern seaport, Trieste, was still largely Italian in 
blood — though the country district about it was mainly Slav. 
Italy desired the Dalmatian coast, with complete control of 
both sides of the Adriatic. 

In this matter, right and wTong were intermingled, so that a 
just solution of the problem was hardly to be expected. But 
another part of the same trouble was simpler. '%ombardy," 
redeemed in 1^59, certainly should have included the Trentine 
district on the south slope of the Alps, with its purely Italian 
population ; but, through the favor of Napoleon III, Aus- 
tria retained it. This *' Italia J[rredenta " ("Unredeemed"), 
along with unredeemed Trieste, was a constant source of 
"dahgeTlo^uropean peace down to the World War. 
State and TtaTy has also a serious problem in the relations of state and 

church. In 1870, when Italy took possession of Rome, Pope 
Pius IX protested agamst the act^^as a ^eed of brigandage — 
though the citizens of Rome ratified the union by a vote of 
ninety to one. The government left the pope all the dignity of 
an independent sovereign, though Tiis terrilory was reduced to 
a single palace (the Vatican) and some small estates. Within 
this domam the pope still keeps his own court, maintains his 
own diplomatic service, and carries on the machinery of a state. 
A generous anmud income was also set aside for him by the 
government of Italy. 

^" Tn common with many zealous Catholics, however. Pope 
Pius IX felt that to exercise his proper influence as head of 
the church, he must be an independent temporal prince in fact 
as well as in form. He refused to recognize the Italian state or 
to have anything to do with it, never left his palace grounds, and 
styled himself the " Pris oner of the Vatican." His successors 
(1921) have followed this policy, and the Catholic clergy 
have usually approved it. The great majority of the people 
of Italy, however, though almost unanimously Catholic in 
religion, have supported the government's policy. For a 
long time it seemed possible that, in case of a general Euro- 
pean war, Austria might restore the old papal states by a par- 
tition of Italy, 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 573 

II. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, TO 1914 

Down to the World War, Austria remained " a tangle of races A " tangle 
and a Babel of tongues." The peoples spoke eleven distinct °^ ^^^®^ 
languages, besides numerous dialects. A fourth of them were 
German (11 millions) ; a fifth Magyar, or Hungarian (9 millions) ; 
the rest were Italians, Jews, Illyrians, or Slavs. These Slavs 
made half the population, but they were broken up into many 
sub-races. Only the German language was allowed in the German 
schools, the press, or the courts. For a Bohemian to publish a ^0^/366^^^ 
paper in his native language was a crim.e. 

But in her wars of 1859 and 1866, Austria found her subject 
peoples a source of weakness rather than of strength, and saw 
that they rejoiced at her defeats. German x\ustria at last was 
given a free parliament ; but this did not conciliate the powerful 
non-German populations ; and finally the two strongest elements 
(German and Hungarian) joined hands to help each other keep 
control over all the others. "Austria-Hungary" became a 
dual monarchy, a federation of two states. Each half of the 
Empire had its own constitution, and the two halves had the 
same monarch and a sort of common legislature. 

These arrangements of 1867 sacrificed the Slavs. The Ger- 
mans remained dominant in the Austrian half of the Empire, 
and the Magyars in the Hungarian half. The union of the two 
was not due to any internal ties, but wholly to selfish fears. 
Without Hungarian troops the Austrian Germans and their 
emperor could not any longer hold Bohemia in subjection ; 
and without Austria to support her, Hungary would lose her 
border Slav districts and perhaps be herself absorbed in Slav 
Europe. 

Of course such a union was one of unstable equilibrium. Aspirations 
Bohemia continued to demand, if not independence, at least pg^pigg^^ 
that she be admitted into the imperial federation as an equal 
third state. The Poles of Austria and of Hungary hoped for 
a revival of an independent Poland. The Italians longed to be 
annexed to Italy. The Roumanians of eastern Hungary wished 
to be joined to free Roumania. The Croats and Slovaks desired 



574 



CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 



Despotism 
from 1815 
to 1833 



"' Govern- 
ment by 
revolu- 
tion," 1833- 
1873 



Castelar's 
presidency 



independence or union with Serbia. With the progress of 
humanity and education, toward the twentieth century, it be- 
came less possible for the two dominant races to use the old 
cruel methods to keep down the subject peoples. For many 
years, historians had ventured to prophesy that a general Eu- 
ropean war, if one came, would probably end this ill-sorted con- 
glomerate state. 

III. SPAIN 

We have seen that the Holy Alliance restored despotism in 
Spain in 1823 (p. 459). For the next ten years the Liberals 
were persecuted vigorously. To own a foreign book was a 
crime. In 1831 a woman was hanged in Madrid for embroider- 
ing on a flag the words, "Law, Liberty, Equality." 

The cr uel a nd suspicious King Ferdinand di^d in 1833 ; but, 
for forty years mo re, S pain passecHrom revolution to revolution, 
— none for libertv, each for some ruler or miTICarv cHieftain — 
with many ""paper^constitutions. '^ The governj^ent was "gov- 
ernment by revolt " — with surprisingly little bloodshed. It has 
been wittily said that during this period " revolution in Spain 
'became a fine art . ' ' 

For two years (1873-4 )^the Republicans got qpntr9l of the gov- 
ernment. . They elected one of their leaders, Castelar, president, 
but they gave Tiim an unworkable constitution. To save his 
country from bloody anarchy, Castelar after a few months 
turned his vague legal authority into a beneficent dictatorship. 
The choice, he saw, lay between bayonet rule in the hands of dis- 
ciplined troops controlled by good men, and pike rule in the 
hands of a vicious rabble led by escaped galley slaves. He 
candidly abandoned his old theories, and with wise energy 
brought order out of chaos. 

It was natural that he should be assailed as a tyrant.. When 
the Cortes reassembled, his old friends passed a vote of lack of 
confidence. The commander of the troops asked for permis- 
sion to disperse the Cortes ; but, l)y resigning promptly, Caste- 
lar showed that he had no wish to prolong his personal authority. 
To-day no one doubts his good faith or good judgment, and the 



SPAIN 575 

name of this republican statesman-author-dictator stands out 
as the chief glory of Spain in the nineteenth century. 

Castelar's resignation was followed by anarchy and more Constitu- 

revolutions ; but in 1876 the restoration of the monarchy, ^^^^^^ "^°^; 
<«-7 ... . "" archy, 1876. 

with the present constitution, introduced Spain to a somewhat The govern- 
in or (^ hopeful period. Tlir g(nernment in theory rests °^®"* 
mainly in tlic Cortes. This body consists of a Senate and 
a (Ongress. Half the senators are elected, while the rest 
are appointed for life. The congressmen are elected by 
manhood suffrage (since 1890). The ministry is expected to 
resign if outvoted in the Cortes, but, in practice, parliamentary 
majorities do not yet really make ministries. Instead, ministries 
make parliamentary majorities, as in England a century and a 
half ago (p. 384) ; but since 1876 no party has " called in the 
infantr}^" 

Until 1881 the energies of the government went mainly to Ten years 
restoring order. Then, for ten years, reform crowded upon re- °gg® °^i^' 
form. Jury trial was introduced ; civil marriage was permitted ; 
popular education was encouraged ; the franchise was extended ; 
the slaves in the colonies were freed ; and the system of taxation 
was reformed. As a result, trade has mounted by bounds ; 
manufactures have developed ; railroads and telegraphs have 
been tripled. Population has doubled in the last century, 
rising from ten millions to twenty, and the growth has been es- 
pecially rapid in the last decades. Above all, the number of 
peasant land-owners is rapidly increasing. 

Until 1898, the surviving colonial empire (Cuba, the Philip- Loss of 
pmes, and so oh) was a drag upon progress. After 1876 a series 
of efforts was made to give good government and some measure 
of self-control to Cuba, which had been in incessant and wasting 
rebellion ; but the problem was too difficult to be worked out by 
a country so backward at home. In 1894 Cuba rose again for 
independence . Spain made tremendous efforts to hold her, and 
for some years, at an immense cost, maintained an army of 
200,000 men at a distance of 2000 miles from home. The war- 
faye,^ however, was iLdueing Cuba to a desert; and finally, in 
1898, the United States interfered. The Spanish-American 



576 



CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 



Poverty and 
taxation 



Religion 

and 

education 



War resulted in the surrender of all the Spanish colonies, except 
a few neighboring islands and some districts in northwest 
Africa. 

It may be hoped that this loss will prove a gain. The pov- 
erty of the government has been serious. The interest charge 
on the huge national debt is a crushing burden, and until 1900 
the debt itself was constantly growing. Now that Spain no 
longer has the task of holding distant colonial possessions, she 
may conclude to reduce her absurd army system and to use the 
money for the development of the intellect of the people and of 
the resources of the land. She still has ambitions, however, 
to extend her colonial possessions in Africa ; and she long kept 
a natural hope that, in case of a general European war, she might 
regain Gibraltar. This last consideration went far to make her 
somewhat pro-German in the World War. 

Catholicism is the state religion. Though the constitution 
promises "freedom of worsliip," no other religious services are 
permitted in public. In this respect Spain is the most backward 
of European lands. She is also sadly backward in education. 
There is a compulsory education law, but it is a paper edict. 
In 1909 a government investigation found 30,000 towns and 
villages with no public school whatever, while in 10,000 other 
places the schools were in hired premises — many of them 
grossly unfit for the purpose, — connected with slaughter- 
houses, cemeteries, or stables. The only schools in most of the 
country, outside these public schools, were "nuns' schools," 
teaching only the catechism and needlework. Only one fourth 
of the population could read and ^\Tite. 

Spanish Liberals haye. wished to chang_e^all this radically, 
("i) by srparatuig church and state, jiud (2) hv^excluding clerical 
control from the schools. ^ But the. introduction of manhood 
suffrage in 1900 provgd-disastrous to such reforms. It strength- 
■"^^ "the rtericals and Conservatives in the Cortes, because of 
the absolute obedience paid at elections by the peasants to 
their priests, ajid for many years progress in education and in 
politics has almost ceased. 



o 
X 




BELGIUM 



577 



IV. THE REPUBLIC OF PORTUGAL 

In 1821, as one of the results of the Spanish revolution of 
1820, the king of Portugal accepted a constitution. For many 
years, however, the country was distracted by revolutions, and 
by wars between claimants for the crown ; but in 1910 a sudden 
uprising set up a republic, which so far (1921) seems stable. 
English influence controls foreign relations, so that Portugal is, 
in practice, almost an English protectorate. 

Until 1910 Catholicism was the state religion. Indeed there 
were only a few hundred people of other faiths in the country. 
But the Republican government at once established complete 
religious freedom, confiscated the church property, and adopted 
a plan for the "separation of church and state" like that set up 
in France in 1906. Education, by law, is universal and gratui- 
tous ; but in practice the children of the poor do not attend 
school. The schools, too, are very poor. Portugal is more illit- 
erate even than Spain. 

Colonies are still extensive (in the Verde islands, in Africa, 
and in India), but they do not pay expenses, and it is doubtful 
whether so poor a country can afford to keep them. Their ad- 
ministration is very bad. 

For thirty years the national finances have been on the verge 
of bankruptcy. 



Establish- 
ment of the 
Republic 



Religion 

and 

education 



Present 
problems 



V. BELGIUM 

The constitution of Belgium is still that of 1831, with a few 
amendments. The king acts only through "responsible" 
ministers. In 1831 the franchise rested upon the pa^^ment of a 
high tax ; and even in the 'eighties only one man in ten could vote. 
Agitation began for further extension of the franchise ; but the 
parliament voted down bill after bill. Finally, in 1893 the 
Labor party declared a general strike, in order to exert political 
pressure, and the crowds of unemployed men in Brussels about 
the parliament house threatened serious riots. The militia, 
top, showed a disposition to side with the rioters. The members 
of parliament, looking on from the windows, changed their 



A demo- 
cratic 
franchise 



578 CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 

minds, and quickly passed a new franchise law, pro\'iding for 
manhood suffrage, with plural votes (one or tico extra votes) for 
wealth and education. In 1919 (after the World War) plural 
votes were abolished. The leading political parties are the 
Clericals and the Laborites, or Socialists. 

For many years Belgium ranked among the leading industrial 
nations. In 1910 the population was seven and a half millions 
— more than double that in LSI 5. The people were happy, 
contented, and prosperous. Then for more than four years 
(1914-1918) this little land was ravaged by the World War. 

VI. DENMARK 

The king of Denmark granted g, ^aper .constitution in 1848; 
but real constitutional govenjmentj^gan onlv after the defeat 
of 1864. Two years of democratic agitation then secured the 
constitution of 1866.^ This document promises freedom of 
speech and of the press, and creates a Diet (Rigsdag) of two 
Houses. The Landthing, or upper House, is coniposed partly 
of members appointed by the* king, partly members elected on 
aL very high property basis. The Folkthing, or lower House, 
is elected. In 1901 the vote was given to all self-supporting 
men, thirty years of age, and in I91a.jt was extended to all men 
and most women.< In 1901, after a thirty years' contest, min- 
istries were made responsible to the Representatives. 

Cooperation Denmark is the special home of cooperation among farmers. 

hieh^schools '^^^ ^^^d is not naturally fertile. The people, until after the 
middle of the nineteenth century, were poor and ignorant. 
Agriculture was backwartl, and the defeat by Prussia and Aus- 
tria in 1864 left the little state impoverished. Its people were 
forced to seek some escape from their condition. 

A new system of schools pointed the way. Denmark con- 
tains 15,000 square miles with nearly three millions of people. 
That is, it has more people than Indiana, in less than half the 
territory. More than a third of these people are farmers. For 
them, ninety-eight high schools give instruction in agriculture 
and domestic economy, — twenty of the ninety-eight being 
special schools in agriculture. Most of these schools, too, give 



o 
X! 

< 




SCANDINAVIA 579 

special "short courses" in the winter, and these are largely at- 
tended by adult farmers and their wives. The schools are not 
merely industrial ; even the short courses emphasize music and 
literature. They aim to teach not merely how to get a living, 
but also how to live nobly. And the}^ have taught the Danish 
farmers the methods of successful cooperation. To-day Den- 
mark is one of the most progressive and prosperous farming 
countries in the world. 

Local cooperative societies are found in almost every dis- 
tinct line of farm industry, — in dairying, in the hog industry, 
in marketing eggs, in breeding cattle, in producing improved 
seed, in securing farm machinery, in farm loans. The local 
societies are federated into national organizations. The central 
society that markets eggs and dairy products has an office in 
London as well as in Copenhagen, and owns its own swift 
steamers to ply daily between the tv/o capitals. Denmark sup- 
plies England's forty millions with a large part of their eggs, 
bacon, and butter, — $10,000,000 worth, $32,000,000 worth, 
and $50,000,000 worth, respectively, in 1911. 

Thanks to the cooperative system, the profits go to the pro- 
ducers, not to middlemen. Best of all, the Danish peasant, on 
eight or ten acres of land, is an educated man, cultured because 
of his intelligent, scientific mastery of his w^ork. The coopera- 
tive movement in agriculture is found also, in only a slightly 
smaller degree, in Belgium, Holland, Norway, and Sweden. 

VII. NORWAY AND SWEDEN 

The Congress of Vienna, in 1814, took Norway from Den- The 
mark and gave it to Sweden (p. 450), to rew^ard that country j8^T°^ 
for services against Napoleon. But the Norwegian people 
declined to be bartered from one ruler to another. A Diet or 
Storthing, assembled at FAdvold, declared Norway a sovereign 
state, and adopted a liberal constitution {May 17, 1814)- Swe- 
den, backed by the Powers, made ready to enforce its claims, but 
finally a compromise was arranged. The Diet elected the Swed- 
ish king as king of Norway also on condition that he should rec- 
ognize the new Norwegian constitution. That document made 




580 



CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 



the sittings of the Storthing wholly independent of the king's 
will, and also provided that the royal veto should have no effect 
upon a bill passed in three successive sessions. 









Jl^^T^'-.- 





A Norwegian Fjord, — Sogndal 



Norway's 
struggle for 
self-govern- 
ment 



Storthing 
and royal 
vetoes 



The union lasted almost a century, but there was a growing 
chasm between the two lands. Sweden had a strong aristocracy 
and a considerable city population. Norway even then had 
only a weak aristocracy, and was a land of independent peasants 
and sturdy fisherfolk and sailors. In the early part of the cen- 
tury the Storthing succeeded in abolishing nobility in Norway, 
after two vetoes by the king, and in 1884 it established manhood 
suffrage against his will. Meantime there had begun agita- 
tion for a greater amount of self-government. 

In 1872-1874 the Storthing passed a bill three times, re- 
quiring the ministries to resign if outvoted. King Oscar II de- 
clared that this was an amendment to the constitution. In 
such a case, he urged, the rule limiting his veto could not apply, 
and he declined to recognize the law. Civil war seemed at hand ; 
but a new election inj^884 showed that the Norwegians ^ere 
almost unanimous in the demand, and the king yielded. (Oscar 



SCANDINAVIA 581 

II came to the Swedish throne in 1872, and his moderation and 
fairness had much to do on other occasions also with preventing 
an armed conflict, which impetuous men on either side were 
ready to precipitate. He was one of the greatest men who sat 
upon European thrones in the last century.) 

This victory made the real executive in Norway Norwegian, 
for all internal affairs. The Storthing passed at once to a de- 
mand for power to appoint Norwegian consuls. But the con- 
stitution had left the regulation of foreign affairs in the king's 
hands ; and the Swedish party exclaimed with some reason that 
the proposed arrangement would ruin the slight union that re- 
mained between the two countries, and that it was unconstitu- 
tional. Again King Oscar insisted that on such a matter his 
veto could not be overridden. Finally in 1905, after twenty 
years of strenuous struggle, the . Stortliing by almost unani- 
mous vote declared the union with Sweden dissol^yed, The 
" aristocratic element in Sweden called for war ; but King Oscar 
was nobly resolute that the two peoples should not imbrue 
theirjiand§. in eaclijDther^ Woc^^^^^^ Swedish labor unions, 

too, threatened a universal strike, to prevent violent coercion 
of their Norwegian brethren. Tn July the Norwegians declared 
in favor of independence in a great nationaL referendum, by 
a vote of 368,000 to 184. Sweden bowed to the decision. In 
September, 1905, to the eternal honor of both peoples, a peaceful sep- 
aration ivas arranged upon friendly terms; and then independent 
Norway chose a Danish prince (Haakon VII) for king. 

In 1901 the Storthing gave the franchise in all municipal Norway 
matters to women who paid (or whose husbands paid) a small ^ojnarT 
tax. In J 907 the parliamentary franchise was given to the suffrage 
same class of women. Thus, Norway was the first sovereign 
n ation to give the franchise to women. 

Until late in the nineteenth century Sweden was backward Swedish 
in politics. The Diet was made up, medieval fashion, of four 
estates — nobles, clergy, burgesses, and peasants — and the 
king could always play off one class against another. In 1866 
this arrangement was replaced by a modern parliament of two 



reform 
since i866 



582 



CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 



Houses, but for nearly half a century more the franchise ex- 
cluded a large part of the adult males. Agitation for reform 
began vehemently in 1895. Seventeen years later, the right to 
vote for members of the lower House of the parliament was 
given to all adult men, but with "plural" votes for wealth. At 
the same time women secured the franchise for all matters of 
local government. Then in ,1919, sweeping reforms aboy^hed 
pj_ural votii^^^nd esta te [ jjghed >iiiipl<' uni\(rsal suffrage for men 
and women in both national and loi al ail'airs. 



Condition 
in 1830 



The Sonder- 
bund War 



VIII. THE SWISS REPUBLIC 

The Congress of Vienna left the Swiss cantons in a loose con- 
federacy (p. 452), not unlike that of the United States before 
1789. 

The first great change grew out of religious strife. The rich 
city cantons were Protestant, and after 1830 they became pro- 
gressive in politics. The old democratic cantons were Catholic, 
and were coming to be controlled by a new conservative Clerical 
party. The confederacy seemed ready to split in twain. The 
final struggle began in Aargau. In this canton, in the election 
of 1840, the Progressives won. The Clericals rose in revolt. To 
punish them, after suppressing the rising, the Progressives dis- 
solved the eight monasteries of the canton. This act was con- 
trary to the constitution of the Union; and^he seven Catholic 
cantons in alarm formed a separate league, — the Sonderbund, 
— and declared that they would protect the Clericals in their 
rights in any canton where they might be attacked. 

The Federal Diet, now controlled by the Progressives, ordered 
the Sonderbund to dissolve; and in 1847 "The Sonderbund 
War" was begun — seven cantons agamst fiHeen. *^he des- 
potic Powers of the Holy Alliance were preparing to interiere 
JQ. behafrof the*Sonderbund, but the L nionists ^warned and en- 
couraged by the English government) acte3 with remarkable 
celerity anocrushed the Secessionists in a three weeks' cam- 
paign.^ Metternich still intended to interfere, but the revolu- 



1 There are int^eresting po.ipts of likeness between the civil war in Switzer- 
land and that a Uttlc later in the Uixited States. In both countries there 



> 

o 




SWITZERLAND 583 

tions of 1848 rendered him harmless. Then the Progressives 
remodeled the constitutions of the conquered cantons, so as to 
put power into the hands of the Progressives there, and adopted 
a new national constitution, which made the union a true Federal 
Republic. 

The Federal Assembly (national legislature) has two Houses, The Consti- 
— the Council of the States and the National Council.^ _ The first **^*^°^ 
consists of two delegates from each canton, chosen by. the can- 
tonal legislature. The second House represents the people of the 
union, the members being elected in single districts, like our 
Representatives. The franchise is giyen to all adult males, 
and elections take place on Sundays, so that all may vote. The 
Federal Executive is not a single president, but a committee of 
seven (the federal Council), chosen by the Federal Assembly. 

Each canton, like each of our States, has its own constitution and 
government. In a few cantons the old folkmoot, or primary 
Assembly, is still preserved ; in the others the legislature consists 
of one chamber, chosen by manhood suffrage. In each there 
is an executive council, not a single governor. 

As a rule, even in modern democratic countries, the people Direct 
govern themselves only indirectly. They choose representa- legislation 
tiyes__(legislatures and governors), and these "delegated" in- 
dividuals attend directly to matters of government. Switzer- 
land, however, has shown that "direct democracy" can 
work under modern conditions. The two Swiss devices for 
this end are known as the referendum and the popular initia- 
tive. 

The referendum consists merely in referring laws that have The 
been passed by the legislature to a, popular vote. This practice '^^erendum 
really originated in America. The State of Massachusetts sub- 
mitted its fu-st constitution to a popular vote in 1778 and in 
1780. The French Revolutionists adopted the practice for 



was a conflict between a national and a states sovereignty party. In both, ^ 
as a result of war, the more progressive part of" the nation forced a stronger 
union upon the more backward portion. Tn both, too, the states which 
tried to secede did so in behalf of rights guaranteed them in the old consti- 
tution, which they believed to be endangered by their opponents. 



y* 



584 



CENTRAL EUROPE, 1871-1914 



The 
initiative 



their constitutions, and the plebiscites of the Napoleons extended 
the principle to some other questions besides constitutions. In 
America, after 1820, nearly all our States used the referendum 
on the adoption of new constitutions and of constitutional 
amendments. 

But Switzerland taught the world how to go farther than 
this. By ^he constitutioi^of 1848, all constitutional amend- 
ments, cantonal or^national, must be submitted to popular vote, 
and in some cantons this compulsory referendum is extended 
to all laws ; while, by an^amendrnent of 1874^ certain number 
of voters by pctiUon may require the submission of any national 
laic. (This ''optional " referendum has been in use in the sep- 
arate cantons for most of the nineteenth century.) 

The poj)ular initiative is a Swiss d^velopmept. It__con^ists 
in the right of a certain nuinber of voters, by petition, to frame 
a new bill and to compel its submission to tl]e people. A little 
before 1848, this device began to be regarded as the natural com- 
plement of the referendum. By 1870, in nearly all the cantons 
a small number of voters could introduce any law they desired. 
In 1891, by amendment, this liberal principle was adopted for 
the national government: a petition oj fifty thousand voters may 
frame a law, which must then be submitted to a national vote. 

Thus the people, without the interventibn of the legislature, 
can frame bills by the initiative, and pass on them by the ref- 
erendum. These devices for direct legislation are the most im- 
portant advances made in late years by democracy. (Recently, 
many of the more progressive States of the American Union 
have carried them, with the further device of the recall, to a 
higher degree of perfection even than in their Swiss home.) 



Place in 
history 



In other respects also Switzerland has made amazing advances 
and to-day it is one of the most progressive countries in the 
world. The schools are among the best in Europe : no other 
country has so little illiteracy. Comfort is well diffused. The 
army system is a universal militia service, lighter than has 
been known anywhere else in continental Europe during the 
last forty years. Two thirds of the people are German; l)ut 



SWITZERLAND 585 

French and Italian, as well as German, are "official" languages, 
and the debates in the Federal Assembly are carried on in all 
three tongues. The universal patriotism of the people is a 
high testimonial to the strength of free institutions and of the 
flexible federal principle, in binding together diverse elements. 
Said President Lowell, of Harvard, a few years ago, " The Swiss 
Confederation, on the whole, is the most successful democracy 
m the world. " 



CHAPTER LX 



Growth of 
territory 



The Trans- 
Siberian 
Railway 



The danger 
to India 



RUSSIA 

Russia's destruction of Napoleon's Grand Army, in 1813, 
revealed her tremendous power. In the fifteenth century (p. 
395), the Russians held only a part of what is now South Central 
Russia, nowhere touching a navigable sea. Expansion, since 
then, has come partly by colonization, partly by war (pp. 395, 
396, 402). 

In Asia, Russian advance after 1800 was steady and terrify- 
ing. She aimed at ice-free Pacific ports on the east, and at the 
Persian Gulf and the Indian seas on the south, besides the rich 
realms of Central Asia and India. In 1858 she reached the 
Amur, seizing northern Manchuria from China. Two years 
later she secured Vladivostok — ice-free for most of the year. 
In 1895 the Trans-Siberian Railway was begun, and in 1902 
that vast undertaking was completed to Vladivostok. This 
road is more than 5000 miles long, — nearly double the length 
of the great American transcontinental roads. Eventually 
it must prove one of the great steps in the advance of civiliza- 
tion ; and it has been fitly compared in importance to the find- 
ing of the passage around the Cape of Good Hope or the build- 
ing of the Suez or Panama canals. Meanwhile Russia had 
compelled China to cede the magnificent harbor of Port Arthur 
(p. 608) and the right to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad 
through Chinese Manchuria to that port (1898). 

On the south, just after the opening of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, Russia secured the passes of the Caucasus. By the 
middle of the century she had advanced into Turkestan. From 
that lofty vantage ground she planned a further advance, 
and by 1895 she extended a great Trans-Caspian railway 
to within seventy-five miles of Herat, the "key to India." 

586 



OPPRESSION AND CONSPIRACY 587 

Great Britain seemed ready to resist further advance by war ; 
but a clash in Central Asia was postponed })y Japan's victory 
in the extreme East. 

In the last years of the nineteenth century Russia was busied Checked by 
with vast internal improvements, — not only the great railroads J^P*^ 
mentioned above, from Moscow to the Pacific and to the fron- 
tiers of India, but also a stupendous system of canals to connect 
her internal waterways. Under such conditions at home, 
Russia had every reason to desire peace abroad ; but in 
1904 the arrogant folly of her military classes plunged her 
into a war with Japan as unjust as it proved ruinous. To the 
amazement of the world, Russia's huge power collapsed utterly 
on land and sea, and she was thrust back from Port Arthur and 
Manchuria (pp. 605-611). Russia still covered eight and a Extent in 
half million square miles (between two and three times the ^^^° 
area of the United States), or about one seventh the area of 
the habitable earth ; and she had a population of one hundred 
and sixty millions — just about equal in number to the whole 
group of English-speaking peoples. 

At the end of the Napoleonic wars, many young Russian Revolution- 
officers came back to their homes full of the ideals of the French ^^^^^^^ 
revolution. The Tsar himself (Alexander I, 1801-1825) had 
been educated by a liberal French tutor ; and for a time, in a 
weak, sentimental, indecisive way, he favored a liberal poKcy, 
and introduced a few reforms. Metternich won him from these 
tendencies ; and then many educated and liberal Russians be- 
gan to be conspirators against Tsarism. 

The cause of the conspirators was long hopeless, because it The serfs 
had no interest for the masses. Nowhere else in the world was 
the gap so complete between upper and lower classes. Four 
fifths the population of European Russia were serfs, filthy, 
ignorant, degraded, living in a world wholly apart from that of 
the small class of educated Russians. 

Besides the serfs, the rural population comprised a numerous And society 
nobility, who were landed proprietors ; and in the cities there 
were small professional and mercantile classes. For twohun- 



588 



RUSSIA, 1815-1914 



Beginning 
of the 
Slavophil 
movement 



Reforms of 
Alexander II 



Emancipa- 
tion of the 
serfs 



dred years (since Peter the Great) these upper classes had had 
at least a veneer of Western civilization. At the opening of 
the nineteenth century their conversation was carried on, not 
in Russian, hut in French ; and their books, fashions, and 
largely their ideas, were imported from Paris. 

The re\'olutionary conspirators from these upper classes 
were romantic dreamers. In December of 1825, the revolu- 
tionists attempted a rising. They met with no popular sup- 
port, and the new Tsar Nicholas (1825-1855) exterminated 
almost the entire group with brutal executions, often under the 
knout. This cruelty, however, made " the Decembrists" mar- 
tyrs to the next generation of generous-minded Russian youth ; 
and their ideas lived on in the great Russian wTiters of the middle 
of the century, like Gogol and Turgeniev. 

The reign of Nicholas I was marked also by the beginning of 
Slavophilism. This was a movement among the educated 
classes to establish a native Russian culture, in contrast to the 
imported Western veneer. The Russians had begun to believe 
in themselves as the future leaders of a new civilization. They 
looked forward to a vast Pan-Slav empire (to include Bohemia 
and the Slav states of the Balkans) which should surpass West- 
ern Europe both in power and in the character of its culture. 
Nicholas gave his support heartily to the Slavophils, in large 
part because he despised the Western ideas as to liberty and 
constitutional government. 

In the closing years of Nicholas, however, the humiliation of 
the Crimean War (p. 495) revealed the despotic bureaucratic 
system as weak, when pitted against Western Europe; and 
this helped the Russian liberals to win to their side the new 
Tsar, Alexander II (1855-1881). Alexander struck the shackles 
from the press and the universities, sought to secure just treat- 
ment for the Jews, introduced jury trial, established a system 
of graded representative assemblies in the provinces (the 
zemstvos), and, in 1861, against the almost unanimous opposi- 
tion of the nobles, emancipated the fifty million serfs. 

Not only were the serfs freed from the jurisdiction of the 
nobles and from obligation to serve them : they were also given 



PLATE XCVI 




THE SERFS "EMANCIPATED" 589 

land. This of course was necessary if the peasants were to Hve 
at all. The land, like the serf, was taken from tlie noble ; but 
not by confiscation, and not enough of it. Each village com- And the 
munity (mir) was to pay for its land. The Tsar paid the noble pro^jiem 
landlord down ; and the mir was to repay the Tsar in small in- 
stallments spread over forty-nine years. Alexander and his 
liberal friends intended each village to receive at least as much 
land as the villagers had had for their support while serfs ; but 
the noble officials, who carried out the details, managed to cut 
down the amount of land and to make the price unduly high. 
The peasants found themselves at once forced to eke out their 
scanty income by tilling the land of the neighboring landlord — 
on his terms. The annual "redemption payments" to the gov- 
ernment, too, were excessive. More than half the peasant^s 
labor went to satisfy the tax-collector. By 1890, one third the 
peasant body had pledged their labor one or more years in ad- 
vance to the noble landlords — and so had been forced back The peas- 
into a new serfdom. The peasants remained ignorant and Y^^®®"^" 
wretched, with a death-rate double that of Western Eu- 
rope. As late as 1900, half their children died under the age 
of five ; and every now and then large districts were devastated 
by famine — while vast tracts of fertile land lay uncultivated. 

At the emancipation, the peasants refused to believe Alexander's 
that the Tsar meant to give them such small allotments ; and poUcy 
in countless places they rose in bloody riots against the nobility 
and the Tsar's officers. The reactionary parts of society urged 
upon Alexander that such risings were the product of the pro- 
gressive writers and newspapers he had encouraged. As early 
as 1862 the Tsar was won to this view, and began to Persecution 
suppress the liberal press. Writers who had thought them- 
selves within the circle of his friendship were imprisoned in 
secret dungeons or sent to hard labor in Sil)erian mines, — with- 
out trial, merely by decree, — and the brutal police sought to 
crush out all liberalism by barbarous cruelty. 

The liberals, in the 'sixties, had come to include the great The 
body of university students. These youths, — men and women 



of liberals 



Nihilists 



590 



RUSSIA, 1815-1914 



Reaction in 
tensified un- 
der Alexan- 
der III and 
Nicholas II 



Religious 
persecution 



of good family, — ardent for the regeneration of their country, 
now organized societies to spread information about the peas- 
ants' misery among the upper classes, and socialistic ideas 
among the peasants, and in the later 'seventies one branch of 
these persecuted radicals decided to meet violence with vio- 
lence. Their secret organization was popularly known as the 
Nihilist society. They deliberately resolved to sacrifice their 
own lives to the cause of liberty, and by assassination after 
assassination they sought to avenge the barbarous persecution 
of their friends and to terrify the Tsar into granting representa- 
tive government. Alexander at last decided to grant part of 
their demands. He prepared a draft of a constitution which was 
to set up a National Assembly. But the day before this plan 
was to be announced the Nihilists dynamited him. 

Alexander III (1881-1894) returned to the reactionary policy 
of his grandfather Nicholas. What remained of Alexander II 's 
reforms was undone — except that serfdom could not well be 
restored in law. The press was subjected to a sterner censor- 
ship. University teachers were muzzled, being forbidden to 
touch upon matters of government in their lectures. Books 
like Green 's English People were added to the long list of stand- 
ard works whose circulation was forbidden. The royal police 
were given despotic authority to interfere in the affairs of the 
mirs. 

All this reactionary policy was continued by the next — 
and the last — of the Tsars, the incompetent Nicholas II (1894- 
1917), and with it was coupled an increase in the despotic at- 
tempt to Russianize the border provinces. The Finnish and 
German Lutherans of the Baltic regions, the Polish Catholics, 
the Armenian dissenters, the Georgians, and the Jews were all 
cruelly persecuted. Children were taken from parents to be 
educated in the Greek faith ; native languages were forbidden 
in schools, churches, newspapers, legal proceedings, or on sign 
boards ; and against the Jews (who had already been cruelly 
crowded into "the Jewish Pale") bloody "pogroms" were 
organized by police officers with every form of outrage, plunder, 
torture, and massacre. (It was this persecution that drove 



NIHILISTS AND SOCIALISTS 591 

great numbers of Russian Jews to America.) And, in return Russian 
for the Tsar's aid against heresy, the Russian priests became despotism ^ 
spies for the autocracy in its poHtical persecution, and betrayed 
to the police the secrets of the confessional. 

In one respect the Baltic districts had more cause for com- Russianiza- 
plaint even than the Jews. Finland, the old German provinces g°JJ.° j-egton 
(Livonia, Esthonia, Courland), and Poland all excelled Russia 
proper in civilization, and each of them, at its acquisition by 
Russia, had been solemnly jyromised the perpetual enjoyment 
of its own language, religion, and laws. Russianization may 
sometimes have been a not unmixed evil to barbarous regions 
on the east; but it was bitterly hard upon these progressive 
western districts. 

By 1890, the police seemed to have crushed all reform agita- Under- 
tion and all open criticism of the government. But there was ^^^g^^ 
an "Underground Russia" where modern ideas were working 
silently. Many liberals were growing up among the increasing 
class of lawyers, physicians, professors, and merchants, and, 
sometimes, among the nobles. 

More important still was the fact that, about 1890, even The indus- 
Russia began to be touched by the industrial revolution. Mos- i^t^o^^^^' 
cow had been a "sacred city" of churches, marked by spires 
and minarets. In 1890, it was becoming an industrial center, 
w^ith huge factories and furnaces, marked by smoke-hung chim- 
neys. ♦ 

In such cities Socialism made converts rapidly among the And Social- 
new working class. There were two distinct bodies of these ^^™ 
Russian Socialists. The larger body looked forward only to 
peaceful reform, like the Social Democratic party in other 
lands. The other was made up of Social-Revolutionists. 
This was a secret society, perfectly organized, which had 
absorbed the old Nihilists. It held that violence was necessary 
and right in the struggle to free Russia from the despotism which 
choked all attempts at peaceful reform. In this day of per- 
fectly disciplined standing armies, with modern guns, open 
revolution is doomed to almost certain extinction in blood. 
So the Revolutionists worked by the dagger and the dynamite 



592 



RUSSIA, 1815-1914 



The liberal 
movement 
of 1906: 
" the First 
Russian 
Revolution 



Class 
divisions 
among the 
liberals 



bomb, to slay the chief ministers of despotism. The society 
selected its intended victims with careful deliberation ; and, 
when one had been killed, it posted placards proclaiming 
to the world the list of "crimes" for which he had been "exe- 
cuted." Spite of every precaution, the Revolutionists, with 
complete disregard of their own lives, managed to strike down 
minister after minister among the most hated of the Tsar 's tools. 

The opportunity of the reform forces seemed to have come 
in 1905. The failure of Russia in the Japanese war showed 
that the despotic government had been both inefhcient and 
corrupt. High officials had stolen money which should have 
gone for rifles and powder and food and clothing for the armies. 
During the disasters of the war itself, other officials stole the 
Red Cross funds intended to relieve the suft'ering of the wounded. 
The intelligent classes were exasperated by these shames and 
by the humiliating defeat of their country, and began to make 
their murmurs heard. The peasantry were woefully oppressed 
by war-taxes. The labor classes in the towns were thrown out 
of employment in the general stagnation of business. The 
agitation for reform among all these elements became turbulent ; 
and in March, after failing to stifle it in blood, in the massacre 
of Red Sunday, the Tsar promised a Duma (representative 
assembly). 

As after the Emancipation Edict forty -five years before, the 
Russian people went wild with joy and hope'; and again bitter 
disappointment followed. All Russia had seemed united 
against autocracy in demands for political reform ; but now it 
proved to be divided within itself by a bitter class conflict. 
The city proletariat was struggling for radical economic change 
as well as for political reform ; especially for shorter hours and 
higher wages, for which many strikes were then in progress. 
The middle-class liberals (including most employers of labor) 
hoped that representative government — with only the grant 
of more land to the peasants — would remedy Russia 's ills. 
Immediately after issuing the October decree for the Duma, 
the Tsar threw himself once more into the arms of the reac- 
tionary official party, and sought to take advantage of this class 



THE DUMA OF 1906 593 

division among the liberals. The prisons were emptied of crim- Reaction at 
inals, who were then organized by the police as "patriots" — ^^^^^ 
better known in history as the Black Hundreds ; and within 
three weeks, in a hundred different places, some 4000 radicals 
and labor leaders were assassinated. 

This brutal violence gave increased standing among the people The origin 
to the radical Socialist movement. In all great cities there had ° ^°^'^ ^ 
been organized a Council of Workmen's Deputies to guide 
the strikes. These Councils now began to be mighty political 
forces. The peasants, too, organized Councils of Deputies in 
many districts, and, in some places, revolutionarily inclined 
regiments made common cause with peasants and workingmen, 
and elected Councils of Soldiers' Deputies. This was the birth 
of the famous Soviets — a desperate attempt to meet the Tsar's 
duplicity and brutality by a new working-class government. 

But these soviet organizations at once began to antagonize Crushed for 
the liberal capitalists by ill-timed demands as to hours and * ® ]^^ ^ 
wages, enforced by general strikes. Accordingly the middle 
classes held aloof, while the Tsar's government used all its re- 
maining strength in the early winter to crush the new Soviets 
with an indescril)al)ly horrible vengeance. 

In April of 1906, midst gloom and anarchy, with 75,000 of The Duma 
Russia's finest men and women suffering torment in dungeons ° ^^^ 
as political prisoners, and with a cruel famine desolating many 
provinces, the Duma was at last brought together — the first rep- 
resentative assembly of the Russian nation. The Tsar had ar- 
ranged the elections so as to leave most weight in the hands of 
the wealthy and noble classes, and the police interfered actively 
against radical candidates ; but the revolutionary movement 
had swept everything before it. The largest party among the 
members were middle-class liberals, who called themselves 
Constitutional Democrats. The chief leader of this group was 
Miliukof, and it contained many other men of wise and 
moderate statesmanship. Next in numbers came the Peasants, 
with a program of moderate Socialism. The extreme Socialists 
of the towns {Social Democrats), had in great measure refused 
to take part in the elections. Still they counted 25 members. 



594 



RUSSIA, 1815-1911 



violence 



Of the total of 400, only 28 were avowed supporters of autoc- 
racy. The Tsar 's repudiation by the nation was complete. 

The Duma, after vainly seeking a "responsible" ministry 
and the abolition of martial law, wisely concentrated its efforts 
upon securing the state lands for the suffering peasants. The 
Tsar, now in the hands of intensely reactionary advisers, was 
"sadly disappointed" that the Duma insisted on meddling in 
such matters, and (July 21) he dissolved it. Months of an- 
archy followed. Tlie government fell back upon stern repres- 
Anarchy and sion and intimidation, to suppress' not only disorder, hut also 
political agitation. More than a thousand political offenders 
were executed, and fifty thousand were sent to Siberia or to 
prison, while the Revolutionists counted up 24,239 others slain 
by the soldiery in putting down or punishing riots. Prisoners 
were tortured mercilessly, and in many cases were flogged to 
death. 

A second Duma met March 5, 1907. The surviving liberal 
members of the former assembly had been made ineligible 
for election. But this time the Social Democrats went into 
the campaign in earnest and elected nearly one third the mem- 
bers, in spite of desperate efforts of the police to close their 
meetings and imprison their leaders. With the remnants 
of the Constitutional Democrats and the Peasants, there 
was once more a large majority opposed to the government. 
In June the Tsar demanded that some sixty Socialist members 
should be expelled as "traitors"; and when the Duma ap- 
pointed a committee to investigate, he dissolved it. Then by 
arbitrary decree he changed the method of electing Dumas so 
as to put control into the hands of the great landlords. A 
third and a fourth Duma (1907, 1912), chosen upon this 
basis, proved properly submissive. The revolution, men said, 
had been stifled. 



The Duma 
of 1907 



PLATE XCVII 




Above. — The "De AVitt Clinton," the first steam railroad train in 
America. The first trip (from Albany to Schenectady) was made August 
9, 1831, with a maximum speed of 15 miles an hour. Note the resem- 
blance of the "coaches" to horse vehicles. 

Below. — A Modern Electric Locomotive on the Chicago, Milwau- 
kee, and St. Paul Road. Forty- two such engines are in use to haul pas- 
sengers and freight over the great Continental Divide. This engine 
weighs 282 tons, has an electrification of 3000 volts, and can haul six and 
a half million pounds of freight up a stiff grade at 16 miles an hour, or, 
geared for high speed, can null a passenger train, like the one here pictured, 
at a mile a minute on ordinary levels. 



PAET XV - THE WORLD IN 1914 



CHAPTER LXI 
SCIENCE AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 

In spite of certain remaining dark spots on the globe, like 
Russia, it was usual in 1900, to speak of the preceding hun- 
dred years as "the wonderful century." It is true that no 
thousand years before had seen so much progress. Theodore 
Roosevelt's day was farther removed from Napoleon's than his 
from Charlemagne's. And in this mighty transformation the 
chief agents had been scientific inventioii and humane sentiment. 

PROGRESS IN SCIENCE 

Very wonderful was the scientific advance. The close of the 
eighteenth century saw those inventions in England that created 
the age of iron and substituted steam and machinery for hand 
power in production, so creating the "Industrial Revolution" 
(pp. 465 ff.). Toward the middle of the next century came a 
second burst of scientific invention, in which America led, 
again revolutionizing daily life and in particular applying 
machinery to farm production. Then, towards the close of 
that same century came the third group of inventions, re- 
placing the age of steam by the age of electricity, transforming 
once more the face of the world and the daily habits of vast 
populations. Gasoline engines and electric engines furnished 
new power for locomotion, for factory, and for field. Man 
explored the sea bottom in submarines and conquered the 
air. The electric street railway, the automobile, and auto 
trucks made for cleaner city streets, better country roads, and 
a vast saving of time and labor. Electric lights helped to 

595 



596 



THE WORLD IN 1914 



banish crime along with darkness. Telephone, phonograph, 
wireless telegraphy gave men new power to do and to enjoy. 
And along with this went such a transformation of all earlier 
machinery and processes as made those of 1850 quaint curi- 
osities. 

More important than these inventions that affect our bodies 
and our outer life have been the change in ideas about the 




Forging a Railway Car Axle To-day, at the Howard Axle Works, Home- 
stead, Pa. The drop-hammer, about to strike the white-hot axle, weighs 
three and one half tons. Fourteen such hammers are used in these works. 

world and man 's relation to it, — a change due also to the 
new science. 

A new In 1833 Sir Charles Lyell published his Principles of Geology. 

geology M.en had believed that the earth was essentially the globe as 

it came from the hand of God, five or six thousand years 
before, modified perhaps in places by tremendous convulsions 
or floods. Lyell explained mountains, plains, valleys, the rock 
strata, and other geologic features, as the results of the slow 
action of water, frost, snow, and other forces which we see still 



DARWIN AND PASTEUR 597 

at work about us. This uniformitarian theory (supported by 
the discovery of fossils in the rocks) quickly induced men to 
reckon the age of the earth by aeons of time ; and soon the dis- 
covery of human remains in old geologic strata compelled a new 
conception of the length of man's life upon the earth. 

In the study of the animal world a like change was taking Evolution 
place. Here and there some thinker had hinted that the plants 
and animals we see about us must have all "evolved" by slow 
changes from one or at least from a few elementary types. 
In 1859 Charles Darwin gave this theory of evolution a definite 
form (so that it is commonly associated with his name), and 
showed one of the forces that has brought it about, in his 
Origin of Species by Natural Selection. Revolutionary as this 
idea was at first, it has become almost universally accepted 
among educated people, although other factors have been 
added to the "survival of the fittest" — the cause upon which 
Darwin laid almost sole stress. 

Hardly less important was the discovery (about 1840) that The cellular 
each animal or vegetable organism is made up of minute cells of ^f ^^g°a^^c°" 
protoplasm (a living substance of a character resembling gela- matter 
tine). These cells in each living thing, it was discovered, come 
from one original parent cell, and develop in different ways 
according to the nature of the organ they are to form (hair, 
skin, muscular tissue, etc.). This cell theory made possible 
a new^ scientific study of animal life — which is called biology. 

And biology has produced a new science of medicine. In Progress in 
the 80's the French biologist, Pasteur, broke the way, proving medicme 
the germ theory of disease, and inventing methods of inocu- 
lation against some of the most dreaded forms, like hydrophobia. 
Devoted disciples followed in his footsteps. During the Amer- 
ican occupation of Cuba after the Spanish- American war, Major 
Walter Reed showed that ordinary malaria and the deadly 
yellow fever alike were spread by the bite of mosquitoes. In 
like manner it has been proved that certain fleas, carried by 
rats, spread the bubonic plague. In 1903 Dr. Charles W. Stiles 
proved that the inefficiency and low vitality of the "poor 
Whites" in the southern United States were due to the parasitic 



598 THE WORLD IN 1914 

hookworm. The special causes of typhoid and tuberculosis have 
become well known ; and as this passage is being written, the 
germ that causes the dreaded infantile paralysis has been dis- 
covered. Each such discovery has enabled men to fight disease 
more successfully. It is not improbable that in the not distant 
future all deadly contagious diseases may be practically banished 
from the earth, — as, according to medical journals, yellow fever 
is just now banished. Between 1850 and 1900 the average hu- 
man life in civilized lands was lengthened by a fourth, and 
population was trebled. 

SOCIAL UPLIFT 
A new This larger and better life of the early twentieth century, too, 

solidarity ^'^^ bound together, for good and for ill, in a new human soli- 
darity. Our big world is more compact than the small world of 
1800 was. Ox-cart and pack-horse have been replaced as car- 
riers by long lines of cars moving thousands of tons of all kinds 
of freight swiftly across continents. For bulkier commerce the 
most distant "East" and "West" have been brought near to- 
gether by the Suez Canal (opened in 1869) and the Panama 
Canal (built by the United States and opened in 1914) ; ^ while 
now the more precious articles and mails begin to be moved as 
by magic in airships, as Tennyson dreamed when in his youth he — 

"Saw the heavens fill with commerce — argosies of magic sails, 
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales." 

New methods of banking make it possible to transfer credit 
in an instant, by wire or wireless, between the most distant 
portions of the earth ; and lines of communication are so or- 
ganized that it costs no more to send a letter or parcel around 
the earth than around the nearest street corner. The Minne- 
sota farmer's market is not Minneapolis, but the world. The 
Australian sheep-raiser, the Kansas farmer, the South African 
miner, the New York merchant, the London banker, are parts 
of one industrial organism. 

All this solidarity means one more revolution i?i industry. 
The age of small individual enterprise has given way to an era of 

1 Special reports upon this building and on present use of these routes. 



PLATE XCVIII 




Copyriyiii oy L mltniood d- Underwood 




Copyright by Underwood ct Undcnvood 

Two Views of the Panama Canal. 

Above. — The Miraflores Locks, with the S.S. Santa Clara leaving the 

upper west chanil^er under tow of an electric motor, not in sight in the 

picture. 
Below. — The first boat through after navigation had been temporarily 

blocked (in 1916) by "the big slide" from Culebra Hill (shown on the 

left). The steamer is the St. Veronica of Liverpool. 



MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE 599 

vast consolidation of capital and management — department 
stores, might\^ corporations, huge trusts, flouring centers like 
Minneapolis, meat-packing centers like Chicago, money centers 
like Wall Street. And this consolidation has brought incalcu- 
lable saving of wealth in economy of management and in utili- 
zation of old wastes into by-products. 

The new unity of society, too, has its moral side. Any hap- 
pening of consequence is known within the hour in London, 
Petrograd, Peking, New York, San Francisco, and, within a day, 
in almost every hamlet where civilized men live. A world 
opinion shapes itself, in ordinary times, as promptly as village 
opinion could be brought to bear upon an individual citizen a 
century ago. 

But even before the horrible catastrophe of the World War, it A dark side 
was plain enough that all this modern progress had a darker side. 
True, there was more life, and better life ; and there was more 
wealth to support life. The workers, too, though they got too 
little of that w^ealth, got vastly more than in 1800. An 
industrious, healthy artisan of to-day usually has a more 
enjoyable life than a great noble a century ago. Still the in- 
dustrial organization which produced wealth with gratifying 
rapidity failed to distribute it equitably. The world had be- Failure as 
come rich ; but multitudes of workers remained ominously l^^^^^^ ^^ 
poor. And this modern poverty is harder to bear than that of wealth 
earlier times because it is less necessary. Then there was 
little w^ealth to divide. Now the poor man is jostled by ostenta- 
tious affluence and vicious waste. 

Throughout the civilized world earnest men and women. The demand 
as never before in history, had begun to band themselves into 
many kinds of "social uplift" organizations to relieve or remove 
this misery. Until toward the close of the nineteenth century 
such movements were mainly charitable in their character. 
Then they began to work, not merely to treat the social disease, 
but to remove its cause. They ceased to call for charity, and 
began to work for social justice — for some improved organiza- 
tion of industry that should secure to the worker a larger share 
of the product of his labor and so insure him against the need of 



for " social 
justice 



600 THE WORLD IN 1914 

charity. Enlightened thinkers and statesmen entered upon 
a new and more promising "war against poverty," rec- 
ognizing also that such a course was necessary, not merely 
for the welfare of the poor, but also for the salvation of all 
society. 



CHAPTER LXII 
WORLD POLITICS TO 1914 

T. ENCROACHMENTS UPON AFRICA AND ASIA 

Modern civilization is based upon ''industrialism." The Trade es- 
greater tlie industrial development of a country, the more em- ^^^^^^ *° 
ployment and better pay for its workingmen, and the more civilization 
profit for its capitalists. Now the life blood of industrialism is 
trade : trade not merely with civilized nations, but (sometimes 
much more) with tropical and subtropical countries for oil, rub- 
ber, ivory, minerals, and other raw materials needed by factories 
in civilized lands. Moreover, thanks to modern factory pro- 
cesses, every industrial country (which can get adequate sup- 
plies of raw materials) has a much greater factory output than 
its owm people can buy. The factories cannot keep running full 
speed without outside markets in which to sell. In the indus- 
trial states, too (before the World War), wealth accumulated 
faster, at times, than it could be invested profitably, — so that 
capitalists were anxious for outside investments, especially in 
countries with naturally rich but as yet undeveloped resources. 

Add to these facts a fourth fact, — that in most of the rich Causes of 
tropical and subtropical regions there have been (until lately) ^Q^je"^ 
no strong states to protect the inhabitants against outside en- 
croachments — and we have the main explanations of the rival- 
ries among the great civilized nations for colonial empire. Each 
seeks the largest possible part of the world 's raw materials for 
its factories to work up into finished products, the largest mar- 
kets for those products (all the better if a sole, or exclusive, 
market), and the best "concessions" from semi-barbarous 
states to its capitalists for exclusive rights to build railroads 
or develop mines. 

601 



602 



RECENT WORLD POLITICS 



Imperialism 
and war 



In the eight- 
eenth cen- 
tury 



In the nine- 
teenth cen- 
tury 



This "imperialism" (or desire for empire for the sake of trade) has 
been the underlying cause of most modern wars.^ And yet, under ex- 
isting conditions, it is useless to blame any one nation for trying to grab 
the oil of Mesopotamia, the coal of China, the ivory of the Congo, or 
the rubber of Mexico. The blame hes in the amazing fact that the 
nations have not made more serious attempts to change the system of 
commercial cannibalism. Rightly seen, the vast raw wealth of the 
globe belongs to no one or two arbitrary political divisions of the 
globe's population : it is the heritage of the whole world, present and 
to come. When we grow^ civilized enough, there will be some world- 
organization to conserve these resources and to see that all nations may 
share on some basis of equal opportunity or of need. True, this is much 
to expect while each nation still permits grasping individuals to engross 
within its own borders that natural wealth that should belong to all 
its people. But, if the task is great, so is the need. It must be solved, 
if civihzation is to survive. Lentil there is such a world organization, 
annihilating world-war will not cease to threaten. The real work 
of a League of Nations wiU be not so much to "enforce peace," to for- 
bid war, as to remove the chief excuse for war by doing justice among 
the peoples. 

In the eighteenth century, trade rivalry became w^orld- 
wide war. From 1689 to 1783, France and England wTestled 
incessantly for world empire, grappling on every continent and 
every sea ; while, as allies of this one or of that, the other powers 
grasped at crumbs of European booty. The close saw^ France 
almost stripped of her old dependencies; and, a little later, 
when she seemed helpless in her Revolution, England sought to 
complete the victory. Then for a while Napoleon seemed 
likely to regain the Mississippi valley and India ; but Waterloo 
left England "the mightiest nation upon earth," for some sev- 
enty years without an aggressive rival for world dominion. 
During that period, other European nations got along somehow 
because trade had not yet become the supremely vital thing 
it w^as soon to be. But steam and electricity were swiftly draw- 
ing the globe's most distant provinces into intimate unity, and, 
with the spread of the Industrial Revolution (p. 561), world 
trade w^as taking on a new importance. Accordingly, after 
1871, the new industrial French Republic began to seek ex- 



1 For ancient war also, cf. pp. 35, 124, 174, and elsewhere. 



I 5) CAPE VEKDE IS. 

/ (Pi/rtugal) ,^, 

6AN»NT0N.0lJ ^Jt^'**" / 

Sr.vlNCtNTir*. iBOiVllTAI; 
\{^ I . / , 

30 a* s» 




L.L.POATES, ENGR., N.Y, 



PARTITION OF AFRICA AND ASIA 603 

pansion in north Africa and southeastern Asia ; and in 1884, at 
the Congress of BerHn, the new industrial German Empire gave 
notice that thenceforth it rneant to share in the plunder. The 
next quarter-century saw a mad scramble between Germany, 
France, and the already partially sated England for the world 's 
remaining rich provinces defended onl}' by "inferior" races. 
European politics were suddenly merged in world politics. The 
possession of petty counties on the Rhine or the Danube ceased 
to interest peoples who had fixed their eyes on vast continents. 

Australia was already English. North America was held by 
the United States or England. South and Central America New world 
were protected beneath the shield of the Monroe Doctrine. Problems 
Africa, however, was largely unappropriated, and now its seiz- 
ure was swift. In 1880 only a few patches here and there on the 
coast were European ; in 1891 (except for Liberia and Abyssinia) 
the continent was mapped out between European claimants Partition of 
(map opposite) — mainly between England, France, and Ger- "^^ 
many, though Belgium held the "Congo Free State," a rich 
territory of 1,000,000 square miles in the heart of the continent 
with 30,000,000 native inhabitants. (It must be understood, 
however, that, except for English South Africa, and part of 
French Algeria, European settlement has not entered the con- 
tinent to any considerable degree, nor have the natives been 
Europeanized.) 

By 1890, also, the partition of Asia was well under way — Europe in 
though in this continent too, except for a few trading stations, 
there has been no real European "colonization." Central and 
northern Asia had become Russian ; the vast, densely popu- 
lated peninsula of India (with adjoining Burma) was English ; 
the southeastern peninsula was mainly French. Of the five 
remaining native states, Afghanistan, Persia, and Siam were 
merely weak and helpless survivals permitted to exist by 
cautious European diplomacy as "buffer states," separating 
England from Russia on one side and from France on the other ; 
and, before the century closed, the Turkish Empire (p. 623) and 
even the ancient Chinese Empire had begun to go to pieces. 

Here we must note that in the closing years of the nineteenth 



604 



WORLD POLITICS 



The United 
States a 
World 
Power 



Land and 
people 



Western- 
ization 



century two new actors appeared to dispute world empire with 
the old claimants. A war between Japan and China (p. 605) re- 
vealed despised Japan as a great modernized World Power 
that must henceforth be reckoned with, especially in Asiatic 
questions ; and the Spanish- American War of 1898 brought 
the United States to the door of Asia. The United States had 
been sufficiently occupied for a hundred years in appropriating 
and developing her own vast territory from ocean to ocean, 
and had resolutely kept herself free from European complica- 
tions ; but now, her great task accomplished, she had already 
begun to reach out for the islands of the sea and for Asiatic 
trade. Then during the war with Spain, she annexed Hawaii 
and at the close she retained the Philippines. 

II. JAPAN 

Japan proper consists of a crescent-shaped group of islands 
with an area a fourth larger than the entire British Isles. Popu- 
lation is only slightly larger than the British, but it increases 
rapidly and it is already much more "crowded," because only 
a small part of the land is tillable (much of that only with 
immense toil, in terraces of built-up soil on steep mountain sides), 
and because factory industry, though now growing rapidly, is still 
far less developed than in America or Europe. Accordingly, 
labor is very cheap, and the standard of living is low. In spite 
of this, the short, brown people have remarkably vigorous and 
well-developed bodies and strong, alert intellects. Their man- 
ners are marked by Oriental courtesy (which our ruder West- 
ern world sometimes looks upon as extravagant if not deceitful), 
and naturally many of their customs are strange and even shock- 
ing to Europeans and Americans. 

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, Japan kept herself 
sealed against the outside world. For two centuries, even to trade 
with foreigners had been punishable with death. The Mikado 
(emperor) was absolute and was worshiped as a god ; and a 
small class of feudal nobles, backed by numerous hereditary 
military retainers {samurai) kept the common people in a bond- 
age not unlike that in ancient Egypt. But in 1853 Commodore 



PLATE XCIX 




Hasedera. Temple, Province of Gamato, Japan. — Number eight of the 
thirty-three places sacred to Kwannon, the goddess of mercy, who, ac- 
cording to Japanese belief, divided herself into parts in order to minister 
to as many as possible, in accordance with their particular need. 



AND JAPAN 605 

Perry, under orders from the United States government, by a 
show of force secured the opening of Japanese ports to American 
trade. 

Humihated by this demonstration of the superior strength 
of Western civihzation, the intelHgent Japanese swiftly 
adopted many of its features. Before the close of the century, 
army, navy, schools, and industry were made over on Western 
models. Even sooner, feudalism and serfdom were abolished; 
and in 1889 a liberal Mikado proclaimed a constitution which 
created a parliament and ministry at least as powerful as that 
then existing in the German Empire. In recent years the min- 
istry tends more and more to become truly "responsible" ; and 
a progressive labor movement is likely to become a factor in 
politics. At the same time, it remains true that, since the fall 
of German and Russian autocracy in the World War, Japan is 
nearer a military despotism than is any other great power. 

Soon after Japan had become Westernized, she began to look Revealed a 
eagerly for colonial acquisitions — partly as an outlet for her po^gj. . 
overcrowded population ; and in 1894 her attempts to secure Chinese 
new privileges in the neighboring kingdom of Korea (a depend- i8Q4^igQ- 
ency of China) brought on war with the huge Chinese Empire. -— — -^ 
The Chinese fought with their usual fanatic bravery ; but their 
arms and organization were Oriental, and little Japan won 
swift victory on land and sea. China agreed to cede not only 
Korea with the neighboring Port Arthur, but also the island of 
Formosa. But Japan in Korea would have forever blocked the 
natural Russian ambition for an ice-free Pacific port, and now 
the Russian Tsar, backed by France, insisted that Japan should 
renounce Korea and Port Arthur (which meant virtually that 
China should turn these districts over to Russia instead of 
to Japan). 

Japan was unprepared for war with European powers, and Russian 
was wise enough to yield for the time ; but she began at once to ^^^^ ^ 
make ready patiently and skillfully for a struggle with Russia — 
which came ten years later (p. 609). Meantime the European 
powers felt at least obliged to recognize Japan more nearly as an 
equal. A series of new treaties removed various restrictions 



606 



WORLD POLITICS 



Anglo- Jap- 
anese pact 
of 1902 



Land and 
people 



Stagnant 
civilization 



which had interfered with Japanese control of her own trade, 
and also aboHshed the European courts which had been set up 
within her territory to try cases in which Europeans were inter- 
ested. Then in 1902 Japanese diplomacy secured a twenty- 
^-ear defensiv^treatx with J^ngland, in which each party agreed 
to aid the other in war if it were engaged with more than one 
Dower. (This meant that wlien the war with Russia should 
come, Japan would have only Russia to deal with.) 

III. CHINA 

Including its many outlying and loosely dependent districts 
(like Thibet and Mongolia) China has an area and a population 
about equal to those of Europe ; but China proper, containing 
half the area and three fourths the population, consists of 
eighteen provinces in the basins of the Hwangho and Yangtse 
river systems. Here, near the coast especially, population is 
densely crowded, considering the backward nature of industry. 
Most of the soil of China proper is fertile ; but, in the absence 
of suitable means of transportation and communication, agri- 
cultural produce away from the coast has little value. The 
mineral deposits (including coal and oil) are probably the richest 
in the world; but, except for recent "concessions" to Euro- 
peans, they are almost untouched. 

Even in China proper, the people belong to many distinct 
tribes with quite different dialects and with little in common 
except their patriotic pride in their common Chinese civiliza- 
tion and their contempt for all outside "barbarians." The 
Chinese civilization was old before that of Rome began. 
Printing, gunpowder, paper, delicate work in silks and in 
"chinaware," the mariner's compass, were all known in China 
for centuries before they appeared in Europe. The individual 
Chinamen, too, are industrious and energetic. But for the past 
2000 years, Chinese culture has made no advance. 

Three causes help to explain this stationary or stagnant char- 
acter of Chinese civilization. (1) The very complex system 
of picture writing, employing thousands of symbols instead of 
only twenty-six, imprisons the mind of the educated class. This 



73 0) O 

T3 ^ ^ 

5H^ 



(1h 




AND CHINA 607 

is the more serious because the educated class of mandarins 
is also the ruling and the official class. There is no hereditary 
nobility in China ; the mandarin class is open to any youth 
who acquires the necessary ability to read and to pass a satis- 
factory examination in certain sacred books. But the stren- 
uous attention which all mandarin youth must give for so many 
formative years to the mere forms of words, and then to memor- 
izing books of maxims, works against interest in new ideas. 

(2) Perhaps as a result of this, Confucius, the moral teacher 
of China, who about 500 B.C. compiled and arranged these 
sacred volumes, makes reverence for ancestors and for prec- 
edent fundamental virtues. To men so trained, innovation 
becomes a sin. 

(3) Moreover, China for thousands of years was effectively 
shut off from all other civilized countries by almost impassable 
deserts and mountains, so that she received no new ideas from 
without. 

In the seventeenth century the Mongol Tartar rule over 
China (p. 395) w^as succeeded by the rule of the Manchus 
(a conquering tribe from north-central Asia). An early monarch 
of this line compelled every Chinaman to wear his hair in a queue 
as a sign of subjection. This line of emperors continued ab- 
solute — in form — down to our own time ; but very soon after 
the conquest the real management of the empire reverted to the 
mandarin class. 

After the voyage of Da Gama round the Cape of Good Hope, European 
European traders began to try for admission into Cathay (China) *^ 
to secure its tea and silk in exchange for Western goods. The 
Chinese government, however, for three centuries permitted 
these foreigners to deal only in the one port of Canton — ■ where 
Portuguese, Dutch, and English established posts. The English 
found the greatest profits in bringing in opium from India. 
The Chinese government saw that this drug was ruining thou- 
sands of its people,, and, very properly, in 1839 it tried to stop The Opium 
that trade altogether. The English government then entered "'^ 
niipon the "Opium War," and it was supported (it is instructive 



608 



WORLD POLITICS 



Disinte- 
gration 



The Boxer 
rising 



to note) by English public opinion, which ignorantly supposed 
that England at most was merely breaking through barbarous 
trade restrictions — as the L^nited States was soon to do in 
Japan (p. (iOo). 

England of course was speedily victorious, and the treaty 
of peace forced China to cede the island of Hongkong (which 
is still British) and to open to foreign commerce a number of 
important ports. The helpless Empire was soon compelled 
also to admit Christian missionaries and to permit foreigners 
to travel through its realms. 

Next came the actual seizure of whole outlying provinces — 
Burma by England, much of Indo-China by France, and the 
valley of the Amur by Russia. After the Jap-Chinese War of 
18Q4:i.5j. too, jlussia, ^n retyrn for her "protection," induced 
China to "lease" hen Port Arthur for a hundred years (! ) and 
Jtp grant her railway rights across Manchuria (with the ad- 
mission of Russian soldiers to guard the railway). 

Then followed quickly seizures of territory in China proper. 
How Germany entere4 the Shantung peninsula has been told 
(p. 568). That act stimulated England to "induce" China 
(by the appearance of a fleet of warships) to "lease" to her 
the port of Waihaiwij^i.^- just between Port Arthur and the new 
Gennan port Kiaochow. France secured Kwangchow-wan 
toward the south. The final partition of the ancient Empire 
seemed under way. 

But the peril called forth a violent outburst of patriotism. 
The mass of the people resented bitterly the interference of 
"foreign devils" in their affairs, and a secret society (the Boxers), 
pledged to rid China of foreigners, swept the country. In 1900_ 
came a widespread Boxer rising. Many missionaries and trav- 
elers were^ massacred ; the German minister was slain ; and 
the other European embassies in Peking were besieged. 

The siege was soon raised, and the ,Boxer rising crughgd with 
savage retaliationj^y a relief exj^edition in which Russia, Japan, 
the L'nited States, England, France, and Germany, joined. It 
seemed probable that the European powers would now seize 
large " indemnities " in territory, and perhaps break China in 



AND CHINA 609 

fragments. Largely through the insistence of the United States, 

the indemnities were finally taken instead in money. *^, 

Even before the Boxer rising the American Secretary of State, America's 
John Hay, had urged upon the powers the policy of preserving jP^^^ I 
^Chinese territorial integrity, in return for an "open door" policy / 
policy by that country, suggesting also that each of the powers 
should apply that policy in those "spheres of influence" it had 
already acquired. This "open door" program, forcefully sup- 
ported by America and England — and by all the small com- 
mercial countries — had much to do now with preventing the 
complete dismemberment of China. Of course the main in- 
centive of American policy was the wish to keep rich Oriental 
provinces open to American trade. But this policy — per- 
fectly proper in itself — fell in happily with the interests of 
humanity. (The main hostility to the American policy, in 
ways both open and secret, came from Kaiser William of Ger- 
many — so that in a moment of extreme irritation, Hay once 
exclaimed : " I had almost rather be the dupe of China than the 
chum of the Kaiser.") •— % 

'n 

During the Boxer rising however, Russia had occupied Man- The Russo- ^ 
churia. She claimed that such action was necessary to protect ^ ^ ^^' y 
her railroad there, and promised to withdraw at the return of 
peace. In 1902 this pledge was solemnlv repeated ; but, before 
1904, it was clear that such promises had been made only to be 
broken, and that Russia was determined not to loosen her grasp 
upon the coveted province. Moreover, she began to encroach 
upon Korea. To Japan this Russian approach seemed to im- 
peril not only her commercial prosperity (in Korea), but her inde- 
pendence as a nation. After months of futile negotiation, 
Japan resorted to war. 

To most of the world, Japan's chances looked pitifully 
small. Russian advance in Asia seemed irresistible, and the 
small island state appeared doomed to defeat. But Russia 
fought at long range. She had to transport troops and supplies 
across Asia by a single-track railroad. Her railway service 
was of a low order (like all her forms of engineering), and her 
rolling stock was inferior and insufficient. To be sure, it was 



610 WORLD POLITICS 

supposed that immense supplies had already been accumulated 
at Port Arthur and in Manchuria, in expectation of war ; but 
it proved that high officials of the autocracy had made way 
with the larger part of the money designed to secure such 
equipment. Inefficiency, corruption, lack of organization, 
were matched only by boastful overconfidence. 

Japan, on the other hand, had the most perfectly organized 
army, hospital service, and commissariat the world had ever 
seen. Her leaders were patriotic, honest, faithful, and always 
equal to the occasion ; and the whole nation was animated by 
a spirit of ardent self-sacrifice. By her admirable organization, 
Japan was able, at all critical moments, to confront the Russians 
with equal or superior numbers, even after a year of war, when 
she had rolled ■ back the battle line several hundred miles 
toward the Russian base. 

At the outset, Japan could hope for success only by secur- 
ing naval control of Asiatic waters. Russia had gathered at 
Port Arthur a fleet supposedly much stronger than Japan's 
whole navy; but (February 8, 1904) Japan struck the first 
blow, torpedoing several mighty battleships and cruisers. The 
rest of the Russian fleet was blockaded in the harbor ; and, 
to the end of the war, Japan transported troops and supplies 
by water almost without interference. 

Valu, Port Korea was swiftly overrun. The Russians were driven back 

MukdeiT^^ from the Yalu in a great battle, and again defeated at Liaou 
Yang; and after a seven months' siege, marked by terrible 
suffering and reckless sacrifice on both sides, the Japanese cap- 
tured the "invulnerable" Port Arthur (January, 1905). The 
severe northern winter interrupted the campaign ; but in March, 
1905, the Japanese resumed their advance. The Battle of Muk- 
den was the most tremendous military struggle the world had 
seen. It lasted fifteen days. The battle front extended a hun- 
dred miles, and a million men were engaged, with all the terrible, 
destructive agencies of modern science at their command. The 
Russians were completely routed, and driven back on Harbin. 

Togo's naval Russia's only chance was to regain command of the sea. 

victory During the winter of 1905, after a year of delays, a huge fleet, 




from Greenwich 20 



10 




;^o O^ 



SCALE OF MILES 



~300 loo sSo 



THE RUSSO-JAP WAR 611 

far exceeding the Japanese navy in number and in size, but 
poorly equipped and miserably officered, had set out on the 
long voyage from the Baltic. By a breach of neutrality on the 
part of France, it was allowed to rest and refit at Madagascar, 
and again at the French stations near Southern China ; and in 
May it reached the Sea of Japan. There it was annihilated 
by the splendidly handled Japanese fleet, under Admiral Togo, 
in the greatest of the world 's naval battles. 

Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, now Treaty of 
"offered his good offices" to secure peace; and a meeting of Portsmouth 
envoys was arranged (August, 1905, at Portsmouth, N. H.), at 
which the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed. Japan's demands 
were exceedingly moderate, and she yielded even a part of 
these at President Roosevelt 's urgent appeal for peace. Russia 
agreed (1) to withdraw from Chinese Manchuria, (2) to cede 
the Port Arthur branch of her railroad to China, (3) to recog- 
nize a Japanese protectorate in Korea, and (4) to cede to 
Japan the southern half of Saklialin, — an island formerly be- 
longing to Japan but occupied by Russia in 1875. 

The most important results of the war were indirect results. 
Russia was checked in her career of aggression in Europe and 
toward India, as well as m the Far East, and the collapse of 
her despotic government gave opportunity^ for the beginning 
of a great revolution in society and politics (p. 592). Her de- 
feat was a blessing to her own people. On the other hand, 
victory intensified imperialistic and militaristic tendencies in 
Japan, and her cruel rule in Korea soon alienated much of the 
sympathy her gallantry had won in America and England. 

One other change, vast and beneficent, is at least closely The Chi- 
connected with the war. China had recently begun to follow p^^^, ^z 

Japan's example in sending part of her youth abroad to com- 

plete their education, especially to America ; and Western ideas 
had begun to spread among the mandarin class. The national 
humiliation in the war with Japan in 1894 and in the Boxer War, 
and now the marvelous victory of Westernized Japan over 
Russia, reinforced the advocates of Western civilization for 



612 WORLD POLITICS 

China. In 1909 the regent (Empress Dowager, whose Emperor- 
son was still a babe) promised a constitution "in the near fu- 
ture." The agitation of the Liberals then forced her to fix the 
'date for 1913.^ But this was not soon enough. In 1911 Central 
China rose in revolution, to make the many provinces of the 
empire into a federal republic. 

The movement spread with marvelous rapidity, and in a 
few weeks the Republicans, in possession of the richest and 
most populous parts of the empire, set up a provisional republican 
government, at Nanking, under the presidency of an enlight- 
ened patriot, Dr. Sun Yat Sen. In an attempt to save the 
monarchy, the Empress then issued a constitution, and called 
to power a moderate reformer. Yuan Shih Kai (yoo-an she ki). 
When it quickly appeared that this was not enough, the Man- 
chus abdicated; Yuan Shih Kai established a provisional 
republican government at Peking, and opened negotiations 
with the Nanking ggvjerhment. To remove all hindrance to 
union, Sun .^at ^n resigned. T^ien the _[two .provisional 
governments elected Yuan Shih Kai president of the " Re- 
public of China." 
China a re- In AprjUlSl^the first Chinese parliament assembled, rep- 
public resenting four hundred million people. The new president, 

however, provedTself-seeking and reactionarv. Leading Liberals 
were assassinated, supposedly by his^ orders, and probably only 
his own death kept him from making himself^ emperor. The 
Peking government remains (1922) virtually a military dictator- 
ship ; but in the south a progressive republic was soon recon- 
structed under Dr. Sun. 

A fourth of the population of the globe cannot be expected to 
lift itself into civilization and orderly freedom in a day. Prog- 
ress in China, however, has gone much further than a mere 
change in external political forms. Western types of schools 
and of industry have been introduced over wide areas in the 
brief period, 1913-1922 ; and much advance has been made in 
freeing women from ancient servile customs — like that of 
binding the feet. 

On the other hand, while the Western World was occupied 



constitu- 
tionalism 



RECENT DEMOCRATIC ADVANCE 613 

in war in 1915, and while China was still too much disftracted 
by revolution to offer effective resistance, Japan forced the 
Peking government to accept treaties embodying a now famous 
set of " twenty-one points," by which the aggressive island 
empire secured great control in the internal affairs of its huge 
neighbor. 

IV. A SUMMARY OF DEMOCRATIC ADVANCE 

The marvelous story of China's transformation makes this a Growth of 
good place to sum up the world's political advance down to the 
World War. As late as 1830, we have seen, England, Switzerland, 
and Norway were the only Old- World countries which were not 
absolute despotisms ; and these countries were far from being 
the democracies they are now. During the remaining two 
thirds of the nineteenth century, constitutional government 
spread eastward from England through Europe, and west from 
the United States to Japan. In 1900 Russia and little Monte- 
negro (with the possessions of Turkey) were the only European 
states still unaffected by the movement, along with Turkey, 
Persia, China, and Siam in Asia; and in 1913 Siam was the 
only sovereign state on this earth without a representative as- 
sembly and some degree of constitutional government. The 
story has been told for all countries except Persia and Turkey. 

In Persia the Shah was induced, by a peaceful but general middle- 
class demand, to grant a constitution in 1906. On his death (1907), 
the new monarch attempted to overthrow the liberal movement by 
force, but a general revolt deposed him and restored the constitution, 
seating a boy upon the throne under the guidance of liberal ministers. 
This government, however, was far too weak to withstand the encroach- 
ments of Russia and England upon the country ; and Persia remained 
distracted by revolts. 

In the. Turkish Empire a "Young Turk" party established a parlia- 
ment in 190^ by an almost bloodless revolution — since the army 
"officers/very largely joined the movement. It must be understood, 
however, that constitutionalism has as yet taken little hold upon the 
most of the people. 

More significant, too, than the introduction of representative 
forms in Oriental lands was the swift extension of the suffrage 



614 



THE WORLD OF 1914 



The Triple 
Alliance 



Bismarck 
prefers Aus 
tria to 
Russia 



in the civilized countries — to full manhood suffrage and then 
to equal suffrage for all men and women. This topic has been 
treated in detail in the story of the several countries. (See in- 
dex for reviews.) 

V. MAKING "ALLIANCES" FOR PEACE 

The new social solidarity had its peril as well as its promise. 
Bv 1910 J^uropc had fallen into two hostile camps, the Triple 
Allifmcc and the Triple Kntmtc. 

1. After 18/1 Bismarck sought to isolate France, so as to keep 
her from finding any ally in a po-sible "war of revenge." To 
this end he cultivated friendship especially with Russia and 
Austria. Austria he had beaten in war only a few years earlier 
(1866) ; but the ruling German element in Austria was quite 
ready now to find backing in the powerful and successful 
German Empire. 

Soon, however, Bismarck found that he must choose between 
Austria and Russia. These two were bitter rivals for control 
in the Balkaijs. The Sla\- peoples there, recently freed from 
the Turks, looked naturally to Russia, who had won their free- 
dom for them, as the "Big Brother" of all Slavs and all 
Greek religionists. But Austria, shut out now from control 
in Central Europe, was bent upon aggrandizement jo the south. 
In particular her* statesmen meant to win, a strip gf territory 
through to Salonikij on the, Aegeap, so that, with a railroad 
thither, they might control the rich Aegean trade. ^ Now Serbia, 
one of these Slav states, dreamed of a South Slav state reaching 
to the Adriatic, — which would interpose an inseparable hlav 
barrier a'cross the path of Austria's ambition. Accordingly 
Austria sought always to keep Serbia weak and small ; ,while 
Russia, hating Austria even more than she loved the Balkan 
Slavs, backed Serbia. (Map, p. 625.) 

This rivalry between Austria and Russia became so acute 
by 1879 that there was always danger^ war ; and in that year 
Bismarck chose to^sijie with Austria as the surer ally. Accord- 
ingly he formed a definite written alliance with Austria to the 
effect that Germany would help Austria in case she had a war 



"ARMED ALLIANCES FOR PEACE" 615 



with Russia, and Austria would help Germany in case she were Italy drawn 

into Bis- 
marck's 



attacked by France and any other Power. Three years later, 



while Italy was bitterly enraged at the F'rench seizure of Tunis league 
(p. 555), Bismarck added Italy to his league, making it the 
Triple x\lliarice. 

*' 2. Then Russia and France, each isolated in Europe, drew The Dual 
together for mutual protection into a "Dual Alliance" (1884). ^gg^ 
"England long held aloof from both leagues. In the 'eighties 
"and 'nineties, England and France were bitter rivals in Africa, 
and England and Russia, in Asia. But after Bismarck's fall, England's 
England began to see in the German emperor's colonial ambi- isolation" 
tions a more threatening rival than France; and Russia's de- 
feat by Japan made Russia less dangerous. German militarism, 
too, was deeply hateful to English democracy. Moreover, Eng- 
land and France were daily coming to a better understanding, 
and in 1903 a sweeping arbitration treaty put any war between 
them almost out of question. Soon afterward, England and 
Russia succeeded in agreeing upon a line in Persia which should 
separate the "influence'' of one power in. that country from 
the "influence" of the other, so removing all immediate prospect 
of trouble between the two. From this time the Dual Alliance The Triple 
became the Triple Entente — England, France, and Russisr. Eng- ^^*®^*® 
land was not bound by definite treaty to give either country^aid in 
war ; but it was plain that France and Russia w^ere her friends. 

Each of the two huge armed leagues always protested that Thealli- 
its aim was peace, and for half a centur}^ after 1871 Europe did ^g^^g * 
have no w^ar, except the struggles in the half-savage Balkans. 
But this "peace" was based upon fear, and it was costly. Year 
by year, each alliance strove to make its armies and navies 
mightier than the other's. Huge and huger cannon were in- 
vented, only to be cast into the scrap heap for still huger ones. 
A dreadnought costing millions was scrapped in a few months 
by some costlier design. The burden upon the workers and 
the evil moral influences of such armaments were only less than 
the burden and evil of w^ar (p. 563). In every land voices be- 
gan to cry out that it was all needless : that the world was tpo 
Christian and too wise ever again to let itself be desolated by a 



616 



THE WORLD OF 1914 



The first 
modern 
" arbitra- 
tion" 



The Hague 
Congress of 
1899 



Germany 
defeats pro- 
posals for 
disarming 



great war. And then came some interesting if not very zealous 
^efforts to find ne w ma chinery by which to guard against war — 
in standing arbitration treaties, permanent international tri- 
bunalsTite the Hag ue C ourt, and occasional World Congresses. 

VI. INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 

The first case of arbitration between nations in modern times 
was arranged bvone clause^ of the Jav Treatv of 1794 oetween 
England and the United States. For nearly a hundred years 
this sensible* device continued to be used mainly by the two 
English-speaking_nations.; but before the close of the nineteenth 
century it })egan to spread rapidly to other lands. During 
that century several hundred disputes were settled honorably, 
peacefully, and justly by this process. 

But in each of these cases a special treaty had to be negotiated 
before arbitration could begin — with every chance for war 
before such an arrangement could be made. Now the closing 
years of the nineteenth century saw agitation for " general arbi- 
tration treaties'' by which nations might agree in advance to sub- 
mit disputes to a certain court of arbitrators. In 1897 a treaty 
of this kind between England and the L'nited States failed of 
adoption because of opposition in the United States Senate, 
though it had been recommended vigorously first by President 
Cleveland and afterward by President McKinley. Then leader- 
ship in this great movement passed for the time away from the 
English-speaking peoples. 

On August 24, 1898, by order of Tsar Nicholas (a sentimental 
lover of peace), the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs handed 
to the representatives of the different nations in St. Petersburg 
a written su gge stion for a, jvorld conference to consider some 
means for arresting the danger of war and for lessening the 
burden of the armed peace. Out of this^sugg^J^n, there grew 
the II(i(Jui Vidri Cn/ifrrcucc of 1S09. Twenty-six nations were 
represented, including Mexico, Siam, Japan, CEina, and Persia, 
— pra ctically all the independent states of the world except 



' Regarding the di&^putod boundary between Maine and Nova Scotia, see 
West's American History and Government, § 232, or American People, § 406. 



PLATE CII 



5^5C1-^-"^ 




<t.^-^. 



■'^ 



.-^-1 





The Christ of the Andes. 
A monument of good- will standing at an elevation of 12,000 feet on the 
boundary line between Chili and Argentina, erected by the two countries 
to commemorate their arbitration of the boundary dispute. 



THE ARBITRATION MOVEMENT 617 

the South American repu})Iics. Never before liad any gather- 
ing so nearly approached a " parliament of man." It was found 
impossible to put any limit upon armament, because the German 
representatives refused to consider that matter ; but agree- 
ments were reached to regulate the methods of war in the 
Interests of greater humanity (futile though such agreements 
were soon to prove), and, in spite of German opposition, the 
Congress provided a standing International Tribunal for arbi- 
tration between nations^^^ 

No nation was compelled to submit itsjj^uarrels to this Hague 
TrT&unal, but machinery was now ready so that nations could 
escape war, without loss of dignity, if they desired. (In the 
following years many important cases were so settled.) 
The next step was for groups of nations to pledge themselves 
to make use of this machinery, or of similar machinery. This 
pledge is the essence of a "general arbitration treaty." 

While the Hague Conference was sitting, Chili and ^Argen- Chili and 
tina (which had not been invited to the Conference) were on Argentina 
the verge of war over a boundary dispute in the x\ndes. For 
the next two years both governments made vigorous prepara- 
tions, — piling up war taxes, increasing armaments, building 
and buying ships of war. But at the last moment a popular 
movement, led by bishops of the Catholic Church in the two 
countries, brought about arbitration ; and soon after, the bound- 
ary was adjusted rationally by a commission of geographers and 
legal experts. So well pleased were the two nations with this 
individual case of arbitration that they proceeded to adopt a 
"general treaty" by which they bound themselves, for a period 
of five years, to submit all disputes which might arise between 
them to a specific tribunal. 

This was the first "general arbitration treaty" ever actually 
adopted (June, 1903). But others were already in preparation 
in Europe ; and, four months later (October, 1903), France and 
England adopted one, agreeing to submit future disputes to the 
Hague Tribunal. Others followed swiftly, until most civilized 
states (except Germany) w^ere joined with one or more other 
states in such agreements, usually, however, with important 



618 THE WORLD OF 1914 

reservations as to "national honor," which often destroyed the 
force of the agreement. 

Spanish The splendid example to the world set by Argentina and Chile 

(p. 617 above), suggests forcibly that the Spanish-American 
states must be taken into account in the future world progress. 
These two, with Brazil, are the leading South American coun- 
tries. In recent years the three have shown a growing disposi- 
tion to act in close agreement in foreign relations, so that they 
are sometimes referred to (from their initials) as the ABC Con- 
cert. The first striking instance of such concert was a joint 
suggestion from the three in 1915 for mediation between the 
United States and Mexico, — apparently with view to protect- 
ing Mexico against unfriendly designs mistakenly attributed to 
the United States. (Cf. West's American People, 703-4.) 

How the Spanish-American states became independent has 
been briefly told (pp. 457-460). Argentina's war of independ- 
ence lasted from 1816 to 1823. Some years of turbulent dis- 
order followed ; but the adoption of the present republican con- 
stitution, in 1853, issued in an orderly and stable era of progress. 
The country comprises fourteen "States" and ten "Territories," 
under a federal system similar to that of the United States. 
In the 'sixties, the government began to build up an excellent 
system of public schools, with Normal schools officered largely 
by teachers drawn from the United States. The population 
is about as large as that of Canada ; and indeed Canada and 
Argentina may be said to be close rivals for second place in 
power and civilization upon the Western continent. 

Brazil became independent of Portugal in 1821, but it kept 
a monarchic government until 1889. In that year the "em- 
peror," Dom Pedro II, bowed magnanimously to the rising 
republican sentiment of the country, and, by his abdication, 
removed the danger of a violent revolution. Brazil's area is 
greater than that of the United States, but the country is mainly 
undeveloped. Of a population of 25 millions, only about a 
third are Whites, and these are settled near the coast. 

These two states are perhaps the most progressive of the South 



THE HAGUE CONFERENCE 619 

American republics, though some of the others press them closely. South 
Until very recent times, the main interest of the outside world ^j-^^jg^ 
in these countries has been in regard to their trade. They ex- 
port large quantities of agricultural products and of raw ma- 
terials. Argentina sends to Europe immense shipments of frozen 
meats and of hides and grain. Brazil exports coffee, sugar, 
tobacco, cotton, rubber, cocoa, dyewoods, and nuts. Chile 
sells costly nitrates and large supplies of precious metals. They 
are making rapid progress in manufacturing ; but they are 
still buyers of factory goods on a large scale. 

The trade of the South American countries is largely in the 
hands of England — though before the World War Germany 
had begun to make rapid inroads upon England's control. In 
spite of her favorable position geographically, the United States 
has not a sixth as much of that trade as England has. 

One of the promising features in present world conditions, 
however, is the marked tendency in the United States for the 
people to free themselves from their old ignorant and silly con- 
tempt for Spanish America. The increased attention to Span- 
ish in our high schools is a hopeful sign. A true understanding 
of one another's civilization between the great Republic of the 
northern continent and its younger sisters to the south will 
count for progress in many ways — of which improved trade 
relations will be only the least important. 

In 1907 a Second Hague Conference met at the suggestion Hague Con- 
©■p^theTTmted States. This time the South American republics ^^^^^ °^ 

'.-^: ^ 1907 

were represented. The Conference extended somewhat the 
work of the first meeting. But again England's proposals to 
limit navies and armies failed because of opposition from Germany 
and Austria. It was growing more and more plain that all these 
noble efforts for peace were vain unless supplemented by rad- 
ical measures of disarmament ; and Germany 's implacable 
opposition had made it plain that this was unattainable except 
by a better organized world. 

Germany's resistance to disarmament was due of course to 
the militaristic spirit dominating her government (p. 504), 



620 THE WORLD OF 1914 

but it was also closely connected with her insistent feeling that 
she must acquire (by force, since she saw no other way) a larger 
"place in the sun," — greater colonial dominion. The nine- 
teenth century "expansion" of Europe into Africa and Asia 
(unlike the colonial expansion of the eighteenth century) had 
been carried forward at the expense of savage or semi-barbarous 
peoples only. For a hundred years no "great" war had been 
waged between Christian nations avowedly for greed. Indeed, 
toward the close, whenever one nation made an important seizure 
of booty, some international conference arranged compensatory 
gains for any seriously discontented rival ^ — and so preserved 
temporarily a delicate "balance" of interests. 
And the But this balance was one of exceedingly unstable equilibrium. 

approach ^ touch might tip it into universal ruin. And there were no 
of war , 

materials to continue adjusting it on the old plan. The world 

was now parceled out. Further ex-pansion of consequence by 
any "power" meant direct conflict with some other "power." 
Moreover, so complicated had rivalries and alliances become, 
any conflict at all now meant a world conflict ; and, so " \m- 
proved" were agencies of destruction, a world struggle now 
meant ruin out of all comparison with earlier wars. 

To-day this is plain enough. But until the late summer 
of 1913 the certain danger was glimpsed but dimly (outside the 
German war lords) and by only a few "dreamers." Compla- 
cently the peoples and their "practical" statesmen continued 
to drift on the brink of unparalleled disaster. They did not seri- 
ously expect ever to use their crushing armaments ; but neither 
did they resolutely seek to get rid of them and to develop this 
feeble arbitration movement into a real guarantee of peace. 

^ Twice this was done for Germany in reference to African territory — in 
1905 and 1911. 



120 100 80 60 40 20 




Longitude 80 West 60 from 40 Greenwich 20 




20 Longitude 40 East 60 from 80 Greenwich 100 



il 



PAET XVI - THE WOELD WAR 



CHAPTER LXIII 
THE CONFLAGRATION BURSTS FORTH 
I. THE BALKAN SITUATION 
We have seen the materials heaped for a world conflagration The Balkan 



(pp. 614-615). A fuse was furnished by the Balkan situation. 
The little Balkan district is a, crumpled criss-cross of interlacing 
mountains and valleys, peopled by tangled fragments of six 
distinct and mutually hostile peoples : the Turk, long ericamped 
as a conqueror among subject Christian populations, but for 
the last hundred years slowly thrust back toward Constanti- 
nople ; the Greeks, mainly in the southern peninsula, with the 
Albanians just to the north along the Adriatic ; the Roumauinns, 
mainly north of the Danube; and, between Greece and Rou- 
mania, tlie Bulgarians and Serbs. The "Bulgars" (on the east, 
toward the Black Sea) came into the peninsula in the eighth 
century as conquerors from Central Asia. Originally baggy- 
trousered nomads, akin to Tartars, they have become essen- 
tially Slavic in blood by absorption into the peoples among 
whom they settled; but they keep a ruinous "patriotic" pride 
in their ancient history as a race of conquerors. The Serbs are 
the most direct representatives of the South Slavs who con- 
quered and settled the Balkan region two hundred years before 
the appearance of the Bulgars ; but in 1910 their ancient empire 
was still in fragments from accidents of Turkish rule. Bosnia, 
the northwestern part, had maintained itself against the con- 
quering Turk longest, and, becoming a distinct province under 
the Turks, had never been reunited to the rest of Serbia. The 

621 



lands and 
peoples 



622 



THE BALKANS TO 1914 



Rise of in- 
dependent 
Slav states 



lands of the Croats and Slovenes were reconquered from Turkey 
by Hungary in the eighteenth century, and had long been sub- 
ject provinces of the Austrian Empire — though they belonged 
to Serbia by race, language, and older history. And in the fast- 
nesses of Montenegro ("Black Mountain") dwelt some two 
hundred thousand half-savage Serbs who had never yielded to 
the Turk but had kept their independence at the expense of 
"five hundred years of ferocious heroism." 




The Congress of Berlin in 1878. Bismarck in the central foreground is 
clasping the hand of the Russian representative. Lord Salisbury, the 
English delegate, is seated on the left. Turkish and Bulgarian representa- 
tives are indicated by their headgear. 

We have seen how the rule of the Turk in the Balkans began 
to disintegrate. Greece won independence in an eight-year 
war (1821-1828) ; and Roumania and Serbia were advanced to 
the position of merely tributary states^ ruled thenceforth by 
their own princes. The Crimean War (1856), in which France 
and England attacked Russia, bolstered up the totteringQttq- 
man Empire for a time, but a great collapse came twenty years 
later. The Sultan had promised many reforms for his Christian 
subjects; but these promises bore no fruit, and in 1875-1876 
the Bosnians and Bulgarians rose for independence. There 
followed the ^horrible events long J^nqwn ^as the^"Bulgi^,^la^ 
Atroc ities^" Turkish soldiers destroyed a hundred Bulgarian 



CONGRESS OF BERLIN 623 

villages with every form of devilish torture imaginable, and 
massacred 30,000 people, carrying off. also thousands of 
Christian girls into terrible slavery. Then Serbia sprang to 
arms ; and Tsar Alexander II of Russia declared war on Turkey. 
The horror in Western Europe at the crimes of the Turk pre- Russo- 
vented for a time any interference ; and in ten months the Rus- ^^j. ^^f jg 
sian armies held the Turks at their mercy. The Peace of San 
Stefano (1878) arranged for a group of free Slav states in the 
peninsula and for the exclusion of Turkey from Europe except 
'^or the city of Constantinople. 

But now Europe intervened. Austria wanted a share of Congress 
Balkan plunder ; England feared the advance of Russia toward jg-g^*^ '^' 
her communications with India ; and so the Peace of San Stefano 
was torn up. The Congress of Berlin (p. 524), dominated by 

lit- 

Disr aeli, the English Conservative, restored half the freed 
Christian populations to their old slavery under the Turk ; 
handed over Bosnia to Austria to "administer" for Turkev, 
with a solemn provision that Austria should neverlinnex the terri- 
tory to her own realms; and left the whole Balkan district in 
anarchy for a third of a century more. In fixing responsibility 
^^L-^tl? World W ar of 1914, this crime of 1878 cannot be over- 
looked. 

It is only fair to note that while the English government 
was chiefly responsible for that crime, the English people 
promptly repudiated it at the polls. Gladstone came forth 
from retirement to stump England against the "shameful al- 
liance with Abdul the Assassin"; and at the next elections 
(1880), Disraeli was overthrown by huge majorities. The wrong 
J,p th e Balkans could not then be undone, but from this time 
England drew away from her old policy of courting Turkish 
friendship — wherein her place was quickly taken by Germany. 

In return, the Kaiser expected to make Turkey into a German and 

vassal state ; and the prospect of German dominance in Austrian 

^ ^ . . , plans at one 

Asia Minor brought Germany and Austria into closer sym- 
pathy in their Balkan policies. Austria 's interference in 
those regions had been purely bad, aiming to keep the little 
Balkan states weak and mutually hostile, and especially to pre- 



624 



THE BALKANS TO 1914 



The 

" Middle- 
Europe " 
dream 



vent the growth of a "Greater Serbia.'' Now (1898, 1899), 
Germany obtained concessions from Tm'key for a railway from 
"BerUn toj^agdiid," to open up the fabulously rich Oriental 
trade. A powerful Serbia, through which that line must pass, 
^might have hampered the project. Thenceforward Germany 
was ready to back Austria unreservedly in Balkan aggres- 
sion. And in return, Austria permitted herself to sink virtually 
into a vassal of Germany in all other foreign relations. Such 
was the origin of the German dream of a "Mittel-Europa" em- 
pire, reaching across Europe from the North Sea to the Aegean 
and the Black seas, and on through Asia Minor to the Euphrates. 



Austria an- 
nexes Bos- 
nia, 1908 



Balkan 
Wars of 
1912, 1913 



In 1908 came a step toward fulfilling the plan. Taking ad- 
vantage of internal dissensions in Tur^Ley that followed the re- 
forms by the young Turks (p. 613), Austria formajly annexed 
Bosnia, in flat contradiction to her solemn pledges. This was 
not only a brutal stroke at the sanctity of treaties, but it seemed 
also a fatal blow to any hope for a reunion of that Slav district 
with Serbia. Serbia protested earnestly, and was supported by 
Russia. But the Kaiser "took his stand in shining armor by 
the side of his ally," as he himself put it ; and Russia, still weak 
from her defeat by Japan and from her re\olution of 1906, had 
to back down. 

Then came an event less favorable to the Teutonic designs. 
United action by the mutually hostile Balkan states had seemed 
impossible. ,But in 1912, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and 
preece suddenly joined in a war to drive the Turk out of Europe. 
The allies won swift victories, and in a few months were almost 
at the gates of Constantinople. "Europe" intervened to ar- 
range tlie peace terms. Italy, like Austria, was hostile to a 
Greater Serbia ; and at the insistence of these powers, backed 
by Germany, a new Kingdom of Albania was created, shutting 
off Serbia once more from the sea she had reached, while Monte- 
negro was forced, by threat of war, to give up to Albania 
Scutari, which she had conquered. Turkey was to surrender, 
mostl}^ t^Bulgaria, her remaining territory in Europe except 
for Constantinople. Germany had carried her points in this 



WARS OF 1912-1913 



625 



settlement; but her ally, Turkey, had collapsed, and events 
were at once to show that in siding with Bulgaria she had 
blundered again. 

The treaty left Bulgaria almost the only gainer. The cheated 
allies demanded that she now share her gains with theni. She 



20° Longitude East from 25° Gr 




1912 



1913 



The Balkan States. 



jefused ; and at once (June, 1913) followed "the Second Balkan 
War." Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and Roumania attacked 
Bulgaria. The Turks seized the chance to reoccupy Adrian- 
^ple and were permitted to keep it. In a month Bulgaria was 
crushed, and a new division of booty was arranged. Greece 
won the richest prize, including the city of Saloniki ; but each 
of the other allies secured gains. 

The primitive Balkan peoples now hated one another with 
an intensified ferocity. JEspecially did Bulgar now hate Serb 
and Greek. Serbia, too, was still cheated of her proper desire 
for an outlet on the Adriatic, her only natural gateway to the 



626 



THE WORLD WAR 



outside world, and she resented fiercely the Austrian and Italian 
policy which had so balked her — especially as Austria now 
shut out all her pork, and so made valueless her droves of pigs, 
her only form of wealth. Austria felt deeply humiliated by the 
outcome of the Second Balkan War, and was planning to re- 
dress her loss of prestige by striking Serbia savagely on the first 
occasion. 

There followed in 1913 a new and ominous stride in mili- 
tarism. First Germany adopted a new army bill, to increase 
her army in%eacc from 650,000 to 870,000. Three weeks later 
(July 20) France raised her__termj^f active service from two years 
to three, and Austria and Russia at once took like measures. 
Each country of course found excuse for further efforts in like 
efforts by its rivals. 



Drifting 



Prussian 
militarism 



II. GERMANY WILLS THE WAR 

One reason why the world drifted so complacently toward 
catastrophe was the general i)elief that, despite their armaments,^ 
jdie^reat "Christian" states were too good or at least too wise 
ever again to engage in war with one another merely for plunder 
— with the terrible ruin that such war must bring under modern 
conditions. And this belief was in itself a safeguard, in a meas- 
ure. The catastrophe would at least have been postponed, 
except that one great nation did not share the faith in peace, 
or the desire for it. The willing hand to light the deadly fuse 
was Germany's. 

For half a century Germany had been ruled by a Prussian 
despotism resting upon an old ])igoted and arrogant oligarchy 
of birth, and a new, greedy, scheming oligarchy of money. That 
rule had conferred on Germany many benefits. It had cared for 
the people as zealously as the herdsman cares for the flocks 
he expects to shear. But in doing so it had amazingly trans- 
formed the old peace-loving, gentle German people. It had 
taught that docile race to bow to Authority rather than to Right ; 
to believe Germany stronger, wiser, better, than "decaying" 
England, "decadent and licentious" France, "uncouth and 
anarchic" Russia, or " money-serving" America ; to be ready to 



their own 
mouths " 



GERMANY WILLS IT 627 

accept a program, at the word of command, for imposing German 
Kultur upon the rest of the world by force ; to regard war, even 
aggressive war, not as horrible and sinful, but as beautiful, 
desirable, and right, — the final measure of a nation 's worth, 
and the divinely appointed means for saving the world l^y Ger- 
man conquest ; and finally to disregard ordinary morality, 
national or individual, whenever it might interfere with the 
victory of the "Fatherland." 

This diseased "patriotism " began with the war-begotten Em- " Out of 
pire. As early as 1872, Von Schellendorf, Prussian War-Minis- 
ter, wrote : 

"Do not forget the civilizing task which Providence assigns 
us. Just as Prussia was destined to be the nucleus of Germany, 
so the new Germany shall be the nucleus of a future Empire 
of the West. . . . We will successively annex Denmark, Hol- 
land, Belgium, . . . and finally northern France. . . . No 
coalition of the world can stop us." Leaders of German thought 
adopted this tone, until it dominated pulpit, press, university, 
and all society. Treitschke, a leading historian, could teach 
impiously : " War is part of the divinely appointed order. . . . 
War is both justifiable and moral, and the idea of perpetual 
peace is both impossible and immoral. . . . The salvation of 
Germany can be attained only ])y the annihilation of the smaller 
states." The Kaiser had long been a noisy preacher of this 
evil doctrine. Said he (at Bremen, March 22, 1900): "We 
are the salt of the earth. . . . God has called us to civilize the 
world. . . . We are the missionaries of human progress." School 
children had these ideas drilled into them. And Jung Deutsch- 
land, official organ of the Young German League (an organization 
corresponding in a rough way to our Boy Scouts), explained 
more specifically : " War is the noblest and holiest expression 
of human activity. For us, too, the glad, great hour of battle 
will strike. Still and deep in the German heart must live the 
joy of battle and the longing for it. Let us ridicule to the ut- 
most the old women in breeches who fear war and deplore it as 
cruel and revolting. No ; ivar is beautiful. Its august sub- 
limity elevates the human heart beyond the earthly and the 



628 



THE WORLD WAR 



common. In the cloud palace above sit the heroes Frederick 
the Great and Bliicher ; and all the men of action — the great 
Emperor, Moltke, Roon, Bismarck — are there as well, but 
not the old women who would take away our joy in war. . . . 
That is the heaven of young Germany. ^^ 



Protests few 
and weak 



True, a few lonely voices, mainl\' Socialists, protested against 
this doctrine of insolent and ruthless Might. Indeed the bulk of 
the peasants and artisans wished not war but peace ; but these 
were silent social forces, unorganized and passive. And even these 
elements were deeply influenced by the persistent propaganda 
that England hated their country and was only waiting a chance 
to destroy it. Between 1912 and 1914, to be sure, the German 
ambassador to England, Prince Lichnpwsky,^ repeatedly as- 
sured his government of England's friendly and pacific feeling. 
But these communications, so out of tune with the purpose of 
the German government, never reached the German people. 



The occa- 
sion in the 
Balkans 



In June, 1914, the Kiel Canal from the Baltic to the North 
Sea was finally opened to the passage of the largest ships of 
war. Now Germany was ready, and her war lords were grow- 
ing anxious to strike before France and Russia should have time 
to put into effect their new army laws (p. 626). 

And at this instant came just the occasion the German war 
lords wished. Ever since its unjust seizure by Austria (p. 624), 
Bosnia had been seething with conspiracies against Austrian 
rule. June 28, 1914^ the heir to the Austrian throne, the Arch- 
duke Francis, and his wife, were assassinated while in Bosnia 
by such conspirators. Austrian papers loudly declared Serbia 
responsible, but a month passed quietly before the Austrian 



iThis cultivated and able German Liberal, wholly free from the spirit 
of German jingoism, had been selected for the position apparently in order 
to blind English opinion as to Germany's warlike aims. When the war 
came, he found himself in disgrace with the Kaiser and the German court ; 
and at the opening of the second year of the war (August, 1916) he wrote an 
account of his London mission for -private circulation among his friends, 
to justify himself in their eyes. A copy fell into the hands of the Allies 
during the next year, and became at once one of the most valuable proofs 
of the German guilt in forcing on the war. 



GERMANY WILLS IT 629 

government took open action. That month, however, was 
used in secret preparation by Germany. Then, July 23.. with- 
out warning, Austria launched her forty-eight hour ultimatum 
to Serbia — demands that would have degraded that country 
into a mere vassal state, and which, the minutes of the Austrian 
Cabinet show, were purposely made impossible of acceptance. 
The German government supported Austria "to the hilt," as 
the Kaiser had promised beforehand to do ; and in twelve days 
a world-conflagration was ablaze. Two facts regarding the 
negotiations during those days are significant. 

1. England persuaded Serbia to offer humble submission England's 
(reserving jonly her national independence), and then implored ^gf'^ th° 
Germany to help get Austria's consent to arbitrate the remain- peace 
ing points. Failing this, England pled, in vain, that Germany 
herself suggest some plan to preserve peace. Lichnowsky be- 
lieved that if his country had wished peace, a settlement could 

easily have been secured, and he "strongly backed" the English 
proposals; but in vain. "We insisted on war," he says in his 
account to his friends ; " the impression grew that we wanted 
war under any circumstances. It was impossible to interpret 
our attitude in any other way." At the time, too, the German 
Socialist, Liebknecht, declared : " The decision rests with William 
II. . . . But the war lords are at work . . . without a qualm 
of conscience ... to bring about a monstrous world war, the 
devastation of Europe" {Vorwdrts, July 30, 1914). 

2. The German government forced on the war (even when Germany 
Austria for a moment showed hesitation) by a series of ultima- 
tums to Russia, France, and Belgium, each justified to the Ger- 
man people by glaring falsehoods — which, however, convinced 
them at the time that they must fight in self-defense. 

August 3, German troops invaded Belgium, as the easy road 
to Paris, despite the most solemn treaty obligations to respect 
the neutrality of that land. And the same day England " went 
in." This upset German calculations. Chancellor Bethmann- 
H(jlhveg had bel ieved that '[ shop-keeping '' England would refuse 
to fight, and he expressed bitterly to the English ambassador 



wills war 



630 THE WORLD WAR 

his amazement that England should enter the war "just for 
a scrap of paper." The irritating consciousness of a blunder 
called forth a frenzy of hate against England — whose overthrow 
in a later war was now openly avowed as the real German goal. 
"May God blast England" became the daily greeting among 
the German people. 

For Further Reading on the war and its causes : Gibbons' New Map 
of Europe, 1911-1914; Loveburn's How the War Came; Rose's Origins 
of the War; Spencer's Our War with Germany; Carlton Hayes' The 
Great War. 



CHAPTER LXIV 



FOUR YEARS OF WAR 



The Germans had planned a short war. They had expected Germau 
(1) to go through Belgium swiftly with little opposition, and ^ ^^^ 
to take Paris within four weeks ; (2) then to swing their strength 
against Russia before that unwieldy power could get into the 
war effectively, and crush her ; and (3) with the Channel forts 
at command, to bring England easily to her knees, if she should 
really take part. 

Thanks to Belgium, the first of these expectations fell through 
— and the others fell with it. The Germans had allowed six 
days to march through Belgium. But for sixteen days little 
Belgium held back mighty Germany. When the French began 
to gather their troops, after August 2, they began it to meet 
an honest attack through Lorraine ; but before the Belgians 
were quite crushed, the French contrived to shift enough force 
to the north so that, along with a poorly equipped " Expedition- 
ary Army" of 100,000 from England, they managed to delay 
the advance through northern France for three weeks more — 
ground for which the Germans had allowed eight days. Tre- 
mendously outnumbered, outflanked, trampled into the dust 
in a ceaseless series of desperate battles, the thin lines of Allied 
survivors fell back doggedly toward the Marne. There Sep- 
tember 6, when the boastful invaders were in sight of the towers Battle of 
of Paris, the French and English turned at bay in a 
colossal battle along a two-hundred mile front. The Battle 
of the Marne wTccked the German plan. To save them- 
selves from destruction the invaders then retreated hastily 
to the line of the Aisne, whence the exhausted Allies failed to 
dislodge them. Both sides ''dug in" along a 360-mile front 
fi om Switzerland to the North Sea. Then began a trench war- 

631 



632 



THE WORLD WAR 



fare, new in history ; and, in spite of repeated and horrible 
slaughter, the positions were not materially changed until the 
final months four years later. 



England's 
sea power 



A " World 
War" 



German 
success in 
the first 
two years 



While England's first heroic army died devotedly to gain 
their country time, England organized herself for war, and 
eventually put into the field a splendid fighting force of six 
million men — a million ready for the second year. From the 
first, too, England's superb navy swept the seas, keeping the 
boastful German dreadnoughts bottled up in the South Baltic, 
and gradually running down the few German raiders that at 
first escaped to prey on English commerce. Except for the 
English navy, Germany must have won the war before the end 
of the second summer. England did not enforce her blockade 
of Germany rigidly, in the first months, for fear of offending 
unsettled opinion in America ; but America 's resources in food 
and munitions were for the most part closed to Germany, and 
were kept fully available for the Allies. 

Meantime, the war was spreading. Within the first few 
weeks, England 's distant daughter-commonwealths — Canada, 
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even her subject 
India — were rousing themselves nobly to defend their common 
civilization. Japan, England's ally in the Orient, entered the 
war, too, to seize Germany 's holdings in China and in the north- 
ern Pacific. Turkey had openly joined the Teutonic powers ; 
and, in the second autumn, Bulgaria did so, hoping to wreak 
vengeance on Serbia for 1913 and to make herself the dominant 
Balkan state. In 1915, too, after driving a hard bargain 
with the Allies in a secret Pact of London, Italy broke away 
from the Triple Alliance and declared war on Austria. 

On the whole, however, the close of the first two years saw 
great gains for Germany. The Russian armies, after gallant 
fighting, betrayed by generals in the field and by a traitorous 
pro-German war office at home, had suffered indescribable 
losses ; and Serbia, after heroic resistance, had been wiped from 
the map. Germany now dominated a solid broad belt of terri- 
tory from Berlin and Brussels and Warsaw to Bagdad and Persia 




< 

O 
CO 
GO 










PLATE CIV 




Above. — French Infantry in Action near Lorette. The photo shows 

a German shell bursting near the trench. 
Below. — A French Dugout. The photo (taken by flashlight) shows 

exhausted soldiers sleeping, while one, on watch, is writing home. 



NEW WARFARE 633 

(map, p. 643). True, she began to feel terribly the blockade of 
the English nav}^ Her stocks of fats, rubber, cotton, and copper 
were running low, and her poorer classes were suffering from 
undernourishment — as was shown by a horrible increase in 
the infant death rate. But the ruling classes felt no pinch, and 
looked hopefully now to the domination of the East to retrieve 
the markets. 

From the first the warfare in the field was marked by new and New 
ever more terrible ways of fighting, with increasing ferocity and ^^rf^e^ ° 
horror from month to month. Ordinary cannon were replaced 
by huge new guns whose high explosives blasted the whole land- 
scape into indescribable and irretrievable ruin — burying whole 
battalions alive, and forming great craters where snipers found 
the best shelter in future advances. Ordinary defense w^orks 
were elaborated into many lines of connected trenches, pro- 
tected by mazy entanglements of barbed wire and strength- 
ened at intervals by bomb-proof '' dugouts " and under- 
ground chambers of heavy timbers and cement. To plow 
through these intrenchments, cavalry gave way to monstrous, 
heavily armored motor-tanks. New guns belched deadly poison 
gases, slaying whole regiments in horrible strangling torture 
when the Germans fii'st used this devilish device, and infernal 
"flame-throwers" wrapped whole ranks in liquid fire. Scout- 
ing was done, and gunfire directed, by airplanes equipped with 
new apparatus for wireless telegraphy and for photography ; 
and daily these aerial scouts, singly or in fleets, met in deadly 
combat ten thousand feet above the ground, — combat that 
ended only when one or both went hurtling down in flames to 
crashing destruction. 

One phase of the war compelled from the first the at- German 

tention of the world even outside Europe. This was the policv ^ J^"ght- 

^ . " fulness 

of " Frightfulness " deliberately adopted by the German High 
Command. For centuries, international law had been build- 
ing up rules of "civilized" war, to protect non-combatants 
and to try to preserve some shreds of humanity even among 



" neutral 
ity 



634 THE WORLD WAR 

the fighters. But the miHtary rulers of Germany, in official 
war manuals, had for years referred to such "moderation" 
as "flabby sentimentality." 

At the opening of the war, the new German policy was 
put into effect in Western Europe. Belgium and northeastern 
France were purposely devastated, — not by the passionate 
fury of })rutalized soldiers, but by deliberate order of polished 
soft-living "gentlemen," just to break the morale of the enemy, 
to make it easy to hold conquered territory with small forces, 
and to intimidate neighboring small peoples, — Danes and 
Dutch. It was this policy that caused even neutral lands to 
know the German soldier no longer as the kindly "Fritz" but 
as "Hun." 
America's To the United States, even more than to France or England, 

the war came as a surprise ; and for some time its purposes and 
its origin were obscured by a skillful German propaganda in our 
press. President Wilson issued the usual proclamation of 
neutrality, and followed this with unusual and solemn appeals 
to . the American people for a real neutrality of feeling. For 
two years the administration clung to tliis policy. Any other 
course was made difficult for the President by the fact that 
many members of Congress were either pro-German or at least 
bitterly anti-English. Moreover, the President seems to have 
hoped nobly that if the United States could keep apart from 
the struggle, it might, at the close, render mighty service in 
establishing a lasting world peace. 

True, the best informed men and women saw at once that 
France and England were waging America's war, against a 
militaristic despotism. Tens of thousands of young Americans, 
largely college men, made their way to the fighting line as 
volunteers, in the Canadian regiments, in the French " Foreign 
Legion," or in the "air service"; and hundreds of thousands 
more blushed with shame daily that other and weaker peoples 
should struggle and suffer in our cause while we stood idly by. 
But to other millions the dominant feeling was a deep thank- 
fulness that our sons were safe from slaughter, our homes free 
from the horror of war. Vast portions of the American people 



AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 635 

had neither cared nor known about the facts back of the war : 
to such, that mighty struggle was merely "a bloody European 
squabble.'* 

Some leaders, too, in all the great reform movements, believing 
that in any war the attention of the nation must be diverted 
from the pressing need of progress at home, failed to see that 
German militarism and despotism had suddenly towered into 
the one supreme peril to American freedom, and so cast their 
weight for neutrality. And then, cheek by jowl with this mis- 
led idealism, there flaunted itself a coarse pro-German senti- 
ment wholly un-American. Sons and grandsons of men who 
had fled from Germany to escape despotism were heard now as 
apologists for the most dangerous despotism and the most bar- 
barous war methods the modern world had ever seen. Organ- 
ized and obedient to the word of command, this element made 
many weak politicians truckle to the fear of " the German vote." 

Moreover, the country had begun to feel a vast business 
prosperity. The European belligerents were clamoring to buy 
all our spare products at our own prices, — munitions of war, 
food, clothing, raw materials. To be sure, the English navy 
soon shut out Germany from direct trade, though she long con- 
tinued an eager customer, indirectly, through Holland and 
Denmark ; but in any case the Allies called ceaselessly for more 
than we could produce. Non-employment vanished ; wages 
rose by bounds ; new fortunes piled up as by Aladdin 's magic. 
A busy people, growing richer and busier day by day, ill- 
informed about the real causes of the war, needed some mighty 
incentive to turn it from the easy, peaceful road of prosperous 
industry- into the stern, rugged paths of self-denial and war. 
A little wisdom on Germany's part, and she might have held 
America bound to neutrality in acts at least, if not alwa3^s 
in feeling. 

But more and more Germany made neutrality impossiblr. From Germany 

the first the German government actively stirred up bad feel- °^^/^.x 

'^ "^ ^ neutrality 

ing toward America among its own people because Americans difficult 
used the usual and legal rights of citizens of a neutral power to 
sell munitions of war to the belligerents. Germany had securely 



636 



THE WORLD WAR 



Sale of 
munitions 



The sub- 
marine and 
merchant 
ships 



supplied herself in advance, and England's navy now shut her 
out from the trade in any case. So she tried, first by cajolery 
and then by threats, to keep Americans from selling to her 
enemies — which would have left them at her mercy, unprepared 
as they were. The legal right of a neutral to sell munitions she 
could not question. She demanded of us not that we comply 
with international law, but that we change it in such a way as 
to insure her victory. For the American government to have 
forbidden trade in munitions during the war would have been 
not neutrality, but a direct and deadly act of war against the 
Allies. Worse still, it would have fastened militarism upon 
the world directly. For neutrals to renounce trade in munitions 
(until all such trade is controlled by a world federation) would 
be at once and forever to hand over the world to the nation 
with the largest armaments and munition factories. Very 
properly the American government refused firmly to notice 
these arrogant demands. 

One phase of German frightfulness came home especially 
to America. This was a new and barbarous submarine war- 
fare, with its invasion of neutral rights and murder of neutral 
lives. U-craft were not very dangerous to warships when such 
vessels were on their guard. Unarmed merchantmen the}' could 
destroy almost at will. But if a U-boat summoned a merchant- 
man to surrender, tlie merchantman might possibly sink the 
submarine by one shot from a concealed gun, and in any case 
the U-boat had little room for prisoners. Submarine warfare 
upon merchant ships is necessarily barbarous and in conflict 
w^th all the principles of international law. If it is to be effi- 
cient, the U-boat must sink ivithout warning. In the Ameri- 
can Civil War, when the Confederate Alabama destroyed hun- 
dreds of Northern merchant ships, it scrupulously cared for 
the safety of the crews and passengers. But from the first the 
German submarines torpedoed English and French peaceful 
merchant ships without notice, so that little chance was given 
even for women and children to get into the lifeboats. Then 
the second year of the war saw a sudden expansion of this hor- 
rible form of murder. In February of 1915 Germany pro- 



Lusitania 



THE "LUSITANIA" 637 

claimed a "submarine blockade" of the British Isles. She 
drew a broad zone on the high seas and declared that any mer- 
chant ships, eveti those of neutral nations, found within those 
waters, would be sunk without warning. The world still re- 
fused to believe that so brutal a threat was seriously meant, The 
until, May 7, the great English liner Lusitania was torpedoed 
without any attempt to save life. 

Nearly twelve hundred non-combatants, many of them 
women and children, were drowned, and one hundred and four- 
teen of these murdered passengers were American citizens. Now 
indeed from much of America there went up a fierce cry for war ; 
but large parts of the country, remote from the seaboard, were 
still indifferent, and shameless apologists were not lacking for 
even this dastardly massacre. President Wilson, still zealous 
for peace, used every resource of diplomacy to induce Germany 
to abandon her horrible submarine methods, — pointing out 
distinctly, at the same time, in his series of four "Lusitania 
Notes" that persistence in that policy would force America 
to fight. The German government answered with quibbles 
and contemptuous neglect. Other merchant vessels were sunk, 
and finally (March, 1916) the sinking of the Sussex, an English The Sussex 
passenger ship, again involved the murder of American citizens. 
President Wilson's note to Germany took a still sterner tone 
and specifically declared that one more such act would cause 
him to break off diplomatic relations. Germany now seemed to 
give way. She promised, grudgingly and with loopholes for 
future use, to sink no more passenger or merchant ships — 
unless they should attempt to escape capture — without pro- 
viding for the safety of passengers and crews (May 4). This 
episode, running over into the third year, closed the first stage 
of this controversy. President Wilson seemed to have won a Germany 
victory for civilization. As he afterward complained, the pre- ^^^^^^ent 
cautions taken b}^ the Germans to save neutrals or non-combat- 
ants proved "distressingly meager," but for some time "a cer- 
tain degree of restraint was observed." 

In this interval came the American presidential campaign 



638 



THE WORLD WAR 



The 

American 
presidential 
election of 
1916 



German 
intrigue in 
neutral 
America 



The danger 
to America 



of 1916. Mr. Wilson drew much strength in the West and with 
the working classes from the fact that he had " kept us out of 
war," though at the same time every voter with a German name 
received circular after circular from "German-American" so- 
cieties urging opposition to him as a foe to " the Fatherland." 
Neither party really made the war an issue ; and Mr. Wilson 
was reelected by a close vote. No sooner had the dust of the 
campaign cleared away than the American people began to find 
indisputable proofs of new treacheries and new attacks by Ger- 
many, even within Ameriean borders. Official representatives 
of Germany in the I'nited States, protected by their diplomatic 
position, had placed their hirelings as spies and plotters through- 
out the land. They had used German money, with the ap- 
pro\ al of the German government, to l)ribe American officials 
and even to "influence" Congress. They had paid public 
speakers to foment distrust and hatred toward the Allies. They 
had hired agitators to stir up strikes and riots in order to para- 
lyze industries. Each week brought fresh proof of such out- 
rage — more and more frequently, formal proof in the courts 

— and finally President Wilson dismissed the Austrian am- 
bassador (who had been directly implicated) and various guilty 
officers connected with the German embassy. 

All this turned attention more and more to the hostility to 
America plainly avowed for years by German leaders. Said the 
Kaiser himself to the American ambassador (October 22, 1915), 
at a time when our government was showing extreme gentle- 
ness in calling Germany to account for her murder of peaceful 
American citizens on the high seas: "America had better look 
out. ... / shall stand no nonsense from America after this 
war.'' Other representative Germans threatened more spe- 
cifically that when England had been conquered, Germany, 
unable to indemnify herself in exhausted Europe for her terrible 
expenses, would take that indemnity from the rich and unwar- 
like United vStates. It came home to us that our fancied security 

— unprepared for war as we were — was due only to the pro- 
tecting shield of England's fleet. If Germany came out victor 
from the European struggle, we must give up our unmilitaristic 



AMERICA AND GERMANY 639 

life, and turn our country permanently into a huge camp, on 

the European model — and there was doubt whether time would 

be given to form such a camp. German militariMic despoth'm 

and peace for free peoples could not exist in the same world. 

Germany now had ready a new fleet of enlarged submarines, 

and she was about to resume her barbarous warfare upon 

neutrals. She knew this might join the United States to her 

foes ; but she held us impotent in war, and believed she could Germany 

keep us busied at home. To this last end, through her am- ^f"®^^ 
. . . ... unre- 

bassador at Washington — while he was still enjoying our hos- stricted" 

pitality — she had secretly been trying, as we learned a little ' ?^* 
later, to get Mexico and Japan to join in an attack upon us, 
promising them aid and huge portions of our ivestern territory. 
January 31, the German government gave a two weeks' notice 
that it w^as to renew its "unrestricted" submarine policy, ex- 
plaining to its own people, with moral callousness, why it had 
for a time appeared to yield to American pressure — and offer- 
ing to America an insulting privilege of sending one ship a week 
to England, provided it were painted in stripes of certain colors 
and width, and provided it followed a certain narrow ocean 
lane marked out by Germany. President Wilson at once 
dismissed the German ambassador, according to his promise 
of the preceding March, and recalled our ambassador from 
Berlin. March 12, after a number more of American citizens 
had been murdered at sea,^ he placed guards on our merchant 
vessels. Germany announced that such guards if captured 
would be treated as pirates ! 

Now the temper of America was changing swiftly. Apathy 
vanished. Direct and open opposition to war there still was 
from pro-Germans and from extreme pacifists, but the great 

^ Besides the eight American vessels sunk before March, 1916, eight had 
been sunk in the one month from February 3 to March 2, 1917. During 
the two months, February and March, 105 Norwegian vessels were sunk, 
with the loss of 328 lives. By April 3, 1917, according to figures compiled 
by the United States government, 686 neutral vessels had been sunk by 
Germany without counting American ships. When we turn to the still 
more important question of lives, we count up 226 American citizens slain 
by the action of German submarines before April, 1917. Before the close 
of the war, 5000 Norwegian sailors were murdered so. 



640 



THE WORLD WAR 



America 
" goes in 



majority of the nation roused itself to defend the rights of 
mankind, and turned its eyes confidently to the President 
for a signal. April 2 President Wilson appeared before 
the new Congress, met in special session, to ask it to declare 
that we were now at war with Germany. April 6, by over- 
whelming votes, that declaration was adopted. 



America's 
aims 



The war 
spreads 



America went to w^ar not to avenge slights to its "honor," 
or merely to protect the property of its citizens, or even merely 
to protect their lives at sea. We did war for these things, but 
more in defense of free government, in defense of ci\ilization, 
in defense of humanity, and in liope of establishing a lasting 
world peace. Said the President 's war message : 

" We are glad ... to fight for the ultimate peace of the world 
and for the liberation of its peoples, the German people included. 
. . . The world must be made safe for democracy. . . . We 
have no selfish ends. We desire no conquests, no dominion. 
We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensa- 
tions for the sacrifices we shall freely make. . . . The right 
is more precious than peace ; and we shall fight for the things 
w Inch w^e have always carried nearest our hearts — for democ- 
racy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have 
a voice in their ow^n governments, for the rights and liberties of 
small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert 
of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations." 

And now the war spread more widely still. Cuba at once 
followed the example of the United States in declaring war 
against Germany, and most of the countries of South and Central 
America either took the same action within a few months or at 
least broke off diplomatic relations with the Central European 
Powers. Portugal had entered the war in 1916, because of her 
alliance with England. China and Siam now joined the Allies. 
None of the new" powers except America, however, were to have 
direct effect upon military operations. 

Through 1916 those operations had continued favorable to 
Germany. True, the East front offered two promising surprises 



PLATE CVI 




y^ 






Above. — Review of French Troops at Moselles. 

Below. — Range-finding. French artillery officers discovering position 
of an enemy battery mth the "range-finder," and telephoning directions 
to their own battery far behind them. A scene in the Argonne forest. 



THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 641 

on the side of the Allies, but each was followed by swift collapse. 
(1) Russia at first showed remarkable recovery, and in June Russian 
won sweeping successes against the Austrians. By July, how- ^° ^^^® 
ever, her supplies of ammunition had again given out, and she 
was saved from complete overthrow, for the moment, only })y 
sacrificing Roumania. (2) For now that country had entered the Roumania 
war, to recover from Austria the Roumanian province of Tran- ^^"^ ® 
sylvania. But the Tsar had induced her to go in too soon by 
promises of support that was never given. Bulgarians and 
Teutons entered the doomed country from south and west. 
December 16 the capital fell, and only tlie rigors of winter en- 
abled the Roumanian army to keep a hold upon a narrow strip 
of territory. A large Allied army at Saloniki did not stir, be- 
cause if it left its base, it was in peril of being stabbed in the 
back by Constantine of Greece ; and the Tsar vetoed all pro- 
posals of effective measures against that fellow monarch. 

And, in spite of America's entry into the war, Germany con- 
tinued to win through 1917 also. Russia did drop out. The 
Tsar had fallen under the control of a traitorous German faction 
of the court, which planned a separate peace. Then suddenly 
his ministers maddened the Petrograd populace by permitting 
or preparing breakdown in the distribution of food. March 11, 
the populace rose. The troops joined the rioters. Absolutely 
deserted by all classes, Nicholas abdicated on March 15. The The Russian 
Liberal leaders of the Duma proclaimed a provisional govern- devolution 
ment, which in a few weeks (June, 1917) was replaced by a 
Socialist-Democratic government led by Kerensky, an emotional, Kerensky 
well-meaning enthusiast, altogether unfit to grapple with the 
tremendous difficulties before Russia. 

Finland, the LTkrainian districts, and Siberia were breaking 
away from central Russia. Everywhere the starving and des- 
perate peasants had begun to appropriate the lands of the great 
estates, sometimes quietly, sometimes with violence and out- 
rage. Transportation was broken down, and the crude in- 
dustrial system was gone. The army was completely demoral- 
ized. The peasant soldiers, so often betrayed by their officers, 
were eager for peace. Whole regiments and brigades mutinied, 



642 THE WORLD WAR 

murdered their despotic officers, broke up, and went home to get 
their share of land. The remaining army was intoxicated with 
the new political "liberty," and fraternized with the few Ger- 
man regiments left to watch it. During this chaos, real power, 
over nearly all Russia, fell to new councils of workingmen's 
delegates (with representatives also from the army and the 
The Bolshe- peasantry). The Extreme Socialists (Bolsheviki) saw that 
^^ these "Soviets," rather than the old agencies, had become the 

real government, and by slirewd political campaigning they 
captured these bodies. Kerensky fled, and (November 7, 1917) 
the Bolslie\iki, led by Nikolai Lenin and Leon Trotsky, seized 
the government, announcing their determination to make peace 
upon the principle of "no indemnities and no annexations." 
The Allies felt deeply indignant at the "betrayal" of the cause 
And a sepa- of freedom ; but it is clear now that no Russian government 
rate peace (.guld have continued the struggle. The Russian people had 
borne greater sacrifice than any other ; they were absolutely 
without resources ; they were unspeakably weary of war ; and 
they failed to understand that German victory would mean the 
return of Tsarism. 

The Russian collapse had been caused in part by skillful Ger- 
man propaganda among the Russian soldiers that the war was 
the Tsar's war, or at least a capitalist war, and that their Ger- 
man brothers were ready to give the new Russia a fair peace. 
The Italian Now, like tactics were used against the Italians, until their 
CO apse military machine, too, went to pieces. Then the Austrians 

suddenly took the offensive. They tore a huge gap in the Ital- 
ian lines, took 200,000 prisoners and a great part of Italy's 
heavy artillery, and advanced into Venetia, driving the remnants 
of the Italian army before them in rout. French and British 
reinforcements were hurried in ; and the Teutons proved unable 
to force the Piave River. Italy had not been put out of the war 
as Russia had been ; but for the next six months, until well 
into the next year, the most that she could do, even with the 
help of the Allied forces sadly needed elsewhere, was to hold 
her new line. 

On the West front, the Allies took the offensive, but made 



THE U-BOAT FAILURE 



643 



small progress, because now the Germans were able to trans- 
fer there their best divisions from the Russian front. The The failure 
brightest phase of the year 's struggle was at the point ^ *^® ^^^" 
where there had seemed the greatest peril. Germany's new 
submarine warfare had indeed destroyed an enormous shipping 
tonnage, and for a few months had promised to make good the 



marine 




The MiTTEL-EuROPA Empire at its greatest extent in March, 1918. In 
Asia, only a few months before it had reached to the Persian Gulf and the 
Red Sea (cf. p. 649). 

threat of starving England into surrender. But an admirable 
English convoy s\^stem was organized to protect important 
merchant fleets ; shipbuilding was speeded up to supply the 
place of tonnage sunk ; submarine chasers and patrol boats 
waged relentless, daring, and successful war against the barbar- 
ous craft of the enemy. America sent five battleships to rein- 
force the British Grand Fleet and a much more considerable 
addition to the anti-submarine fleet ; and newly created Ameri- 
can shipyards had begun to launch new cargo ships in ever in- 



644 



THE WORLD WAR 



creasing numbers, upon a scale never before known to the world. 
The Allies were kept supplied with food and other necessaries 
enough to avert any supreme calamity, and before September, 
1917, it had become plain that submarines were not to be the 
decisive factor in the war. 



A.inerica 
gets into 
the war 



French dis- 
courage- 
ment 



A race 
between 
Germany 
and America 



And now America was getting into the struggle more swiftly 
than either friend or foe had dreamed possible. The general ex- 
pectation had been tlmt, totally unprepared as the United States 
was, her chief contribution would be in money, ships, and sup- 
plies. These she gave in generous measure. But also, from the 
first, the government planned military participation on a huge 
scale. Congress was induced to pass a "selective conscription" 
act ; and as early as June a small contingent of excellent fighters 
was sent to France — mainly from the old regular army — ■ 
under the command of General John J. Persliing. In the early 
fall, new regiments were transported (some 300,000 before 
Christmas), and perhaps half a million more were in training. 
Then events made a supreme exertion necessary, and America 
met the need. 

France could stand one year more of war, but she was very 
nearly "bled white," as Germany had boasted. Her working 
classes were war-weary and discouraged, and the Germans had 
infected all classes in that country more or less successfully with 
their poisonous and baseless propaganda to the effect that Eng- 
land was using France to fight her battles, and that she herself 
was bearing far less than her proper share of the burden. French 
morale was in danger of gi\ing way, as Russian and Italian had 
given way. It was saved by two things : by the tremendous 
energy of the aged Clemenceau — "The Tiger" — whom the 
crisis had called to the premiership ; and by the appearance in 
France, none too soon, of American soldiers in large numbers. 

Thus in 1918 the war became a race between Germany and 
America. Could America put decisive numbers in action on 
the West front before Germany could deliver a knock-oiit 
blow ? The German war lords thought not. The Allies, they 
insisted, had not enough shipping to bring Americans in large 



PLATE CVII 




John J. Pershing. 



THE AMERICANS ARRIVE 645 

numbers with the necessary supplies ; and then the Americans 
''couldn't fight" without years of training ! But while winter 
held the German armies inactive, the British and Amer- 
ican navies carried each week thousands of American 
soldiers to France, x^nd during these same months America 
and England won a supremely important victory in the moral 
field. Austria, now under a new emperor, suggested peace nego- 
tiations in a conciliatory note — possibly hoping also to weaken 
Allied morale. Instead, in two great speeches, Premier Lloyd 
George and President Wilson stated the war aims of the Allies 
with a studious moderation which conciliated wavering elements 
in their own countries, and at the same time with a keen logic 
that put Germany in the wrong even more clearly than before 
in the eyes of the world and drove deeper the wedge between 
the German government and the German people. Lloyd George 
(January 6, 1918) demanded complete reparation for Belgium, 
but disclaimed intention to exact indemnities other thari payment 
for injuries done by Germany in defiance of international law. 
President Wilson had already declared that there could be no The 
safe peace with the faithless Hohenzollern government; and -p^^^^y^ 
now his address contained his famous Fourteen Points, which 
were soon accepted apparently throughout the Allied world as a 
charter of a coming world peace. The more important of these 
were as follows: 

1. "Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at; after which, diplo- 
macy shall proceed always ... in the pubhc view." ... 3. Removal, 
so far as possible, of economic barriers. 4. Disarmament b}^ inter- 
national action. 5. An "absolutely impartial adjustment of aU co- 
lonial claims . . . the interests of peoples concerned to have equal 
weight with the equitable claim of the government whose title is to 
be determined." 6. Evacuation of all Russian territory, and . . , 
"a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions 
of her own choosing, [with] assistance also of every kind that she may 
herself desire." 7. Evacuation and restoration of Belgium. 8. Rep- 
aration for devastation in France, and return of Alsace-Lorraine. 
9. "Readjustment of the frontiers of Italy . . . along clearly recognizable 
lines of nationality .^^ ... 11. Serbia to be given a free and secure access 
to the sea; and the relations of the Balkan states to be "determined 
by friendly council along clearly recognizable lines of allegiance and na- 



646 



THE WORLD WAR 



Brest- 
Litovsk 



The last 
German 
offensive 



tionality." 13. A free Poland (with access to the sea), "to include 
the territories inhabited by iudisputably Polish populations." 14. A 
"general association of nations" under specific covenants. 

The significance of the Fourteen Points lay even more in their 
spirit than in these detailed provisions. " We have no jealousy 
of German greatness," concluded this great utterance, " and there 
is nothing in this program that impairs it. We do not wish to 
fight her either with arms or ivith hostile arrangements of trade, 
if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace- 
loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and 
fair dealing." 

And now Germany herself made plain how absolutely right 
the Allies were in their contention that the Hohenzollerns could 
be trusted to keep no promises. March 3, 1918, the German 
militarists, with the grossest of bad faith, shamelessly broke 
their many pledges to the helpless Bolsheviki and forced upon 
Russia the "Peace of Brest-Litovsk." By that dictated treaty, 
Germany virtually became overlord to a broad belt of vassal 
states taken from Russia — Finland, the Baltic Provinces, 
Lithuania, Poland, L^krainia — and even the remaining " Great 
Russia" had to agree to German control of her industrial re- 
organization. When the German perfidy had revealed itself 
suddenly, after long and deceitful negotiations, the angered 
and betrayed Bolsheviki wished to renew the war. They were 
absolutely helpless, however, without prompt Allied aid upon 
a large scale. This aid they asked for, but urgent cablegrams 
brought no answer. The Allies apparently had been so repelled 
by the Bolshevist industrial and political policy that they were 
unwilling to deal with that government, and preferred to leave 
Russia to its fate — and to the Germans. 

Naturally the Germans opened the campaigns in the West 
at the earliest moment possible. They had now a vast su- 
periority both in men and in heavy guns there. March 21 
they attacked the British lines in Picardy w^ith overwhelming 
forces. After five days of terrific fighting the British were 
hurled out of their trench lines and driven back with frightful 
losses nearly to Amiens, leaving a broad and dangerous gap 




German Lines on July 15 and November 10, 1918. 



LAST GERMAN OFFENSIVE 



647 



between them and the French. But the Germans had ex- 
hausted themselves in their mass attack ; and, while they 
paused, a French force threw itself into the gap, and British 
reserves reinforced the shattered front lines. 

For the first time since the First Battle of the Marne, the Ger- 
mans had forced the fighting on the West front into the open. In 
April they struck again far- 
ther north, in Flanders, and 
again they seemed almost 
to have overwhelmed the 
British ; but, fighting des- 
perately, "with our backs 
to the wall," as Haig 
phrased it in his solemn 
order to his dying army, 
and reinforced b}' some 
French divisions, the Brit- 
ish kept their front un- 
broken, bent and thinned 
though it was. After 
another month of prepara- 
tion, the Germans struck 
fiercely in a general attack 
on the French lines north 
of the Aisne, and, breaking 
through for the moment on 
an eighteen-mile front, once 
more reached the Marne. 

Here, however, they were halted, largeh' by American troops, Chateau- 
at Chateau-Thierry. Then, while the Americans made splen- ^^^^^ 
did counter-attacks, as at Belleau Wood (renamed, for them, 
"Wood of the Marines"), the French lines were reformed, so 
that the Allies still presented a continuous front, irregular though 
it was with dangerous salients and wedges. At almost the 
same time, Austria, forced into action again in Italy by German 
insistence, was repulsed in a general attack on the Piave. 

Time was fighting for the Allies. Disasters had at last in- 




General Haig, who succeeded to 
British command in 191G. 



the 



648 



THE WORLD WAR 



Ferdinand 
Foch 



The Ameri- 
cans arrive 



Foch's 
offensive 



St. Mihiel 



duced them to appoint a generalissimo. This position was 
given to Ferdinand Foch, who, though then a subordinate, 
had been the real hero of the First Marne. For the rest of 
the struggle, the Allied forces were directed with a unity and 
skill that had been impossible under divided commands, even 
with the heartiest desire for cooperation. 

And now, too, America really had an army in France, Be- 
fore the end of June, her effective soldiers there numbered 
1,250,000. Fach month afterward brought at least 300,000 
more. By September the number exceeded two millions, with 
a million more already training in America. The Germans 
could not again take up the offensive for five weeks (June 11- 
July 15), and in this interval the balance of available man-power 
turned against them. July 15, they attacked again in great 
force along the Marne, l)ut this onset broke against a stone-wall 
resistance of French and American troops. For the first time 
in the war, a carefully prepared German ofl'ensive failed to gain 
ground. 

The failure was plain l)y the 17th. On the 18th, before 
the Germans could withdraw or reorganize, Foch began his 
great offensive, by counter-attacking upon the exposed west- 
ern flank of the invaders. This move took the Germans com- 
pletely by surprise. Their front all but collapsed along a critical 
line of twentj'-eight miles. Foch allowed them no hour of rest. 
Unlike his opponents, he did not attempt gigantic attacks, 
to break through at some one point. Instead, he kept up a 
continuous offensive, threatening every part of the enemy's 
front, but striking now here, now there, on one exposed flank 
and then on another, always ready at a moment to take ad- 
vantage of a new opening, and giving the enemy no chance to 
withdraw their forces without imperiling key positions. Before 
the end of August the Allies had won back all the ground lost 
in the spring. The Germans had made their last throw — and 
lost. Foch's pressure never relaxed. In September American 
divisions on the south end of the front won back St. Mihiel in 
bloody fighting. x\t the same time the British toward the 
north were wrenching great sections of the boasted " Hinden- 



THE GERMAN COLLAPSE 



649 



burg Line" from the foe. In the opening days of October the 
German commanders reported to Berlin that the war was lost. 

This result was determined largely by events in the East. 
Now that there was no Tsar to interfere, the English and French 
had deposed and ban- 
ished King Constantine 
of Greece ; and Venizelos, 
the new head of the 
Greek state, was warmly 
committed to the Allied 
cause. In September, the 
Allied force, so long held 
inactive at Saloniki, sud- 
denly took the offensive, 
crushing the Bulgarians 
in a great battle on the 
Vardar ; and Bulgaria's 
unconditional surrender 
opened the way for an 
attack upon Austria from 
the south. 

The preceding year a small British exper'ition from India 
had worked its way up the Tigris to Bagdad ; and another from 
Egypt had taken Jerusalem. Now this last army had finally 
been reinforced, and in September, in a brilliant campaign, it 
occupied Syria and forced Turkey to make abject submission, 
Austria, too, had dissolved. Bohemia on one side, and Slovenes, 
Croats, and Bosnians on the other, were organizing inde- 
pendent governments — with encouragement from America 
and the Allies. Then, October 24, Italy struck on the Piave. 
The Austrian army broke in rout. Austria called frantically 
for an armistice, and even before one was granted (November 
4) the ancient Hapsburg Empire had vanished. 

Germany had begun to treat for surrender a month earlier, 
but held out a week longer. October 5, the German Chancellor 
(now the liberal Prince Max of Baden, who had been a severe 
critic of Germany's war policy) had asked President Wilson 




Copyright by Underwood <£ Underwood 
Ferdinand Foch. 



Victories 
in the East 



650 



THE WORLD WAR 



Fall of 
Germany 



November 
II, 1918 



to arrange an armistice, offering to accept the Fourteen Points 
as a basis for peace. The reply made it plain once more 
that America and the Allies would not treat with the old des- 
potic government, and that no armistice would be granted at 
that late moment which did not secure to the Allies fully the 
fruits of their military advantages in the field. Meantime the 
fighting went on, with terrific losses on both sides. The French 
and Americans, pushing north in the Argonne and across the 
Meuse, were threatening the trunk railway at Sedan, the only 
road open for German retreat except the one through Belgium. 
The British and Belgians pushed the discouraged invaders out 
of northern France and out of a large part of Belgium. The 
pursuit at every point was so hot that retreat had to be foot 
by foot, or in complete rout. As a last desperate throw, the 
German war lords ordered the Kiel fleet to sea, to engage the 
English navy ; but the common sailors, long on the verge of 
mutiny, broke into open revolt, while everywhere the Extreme 
Socialists were openly preparing revolution. 

Late in October the War Council of the Allies made known 
to Germany the terms upon which she could have an armistice 
preliminary to the drafting of a peace treaty. Germany could 
save her army from destruction, and her territory would not 
suffer hostile conquest. But she was to surrender at once 
Alsace-Lorraine, and withdraw her troops everywhere across 
the Rhine, leaving the Allies in possession of a broad belt of 
German territory. She was to surrender practically all her 
fleet, most of her heav}^ artillery, her aircraft, and her railway 
engines. Likewise she Mas at once to release all prisoners, 
though her own were to remain in the hands of the Allies. No- 
vember 11, Germany made this surrender to whatever further 
conditions the Allies might impose in the final settlement — 
though they did pledge themselves to base their terms, with 
certain reservations, upon ]Mr. Wilson's Fourteen Points. 

Germany had already collapsed internally. November 7, 
Bavaria deposed her king and proclaimed herself a republic. 
In Berlin the Moderate Socialists seized the government. State 
after state followed. November 9, the Kaiser fled to Holland, 
whence he soon sent his formal abdication. 



PLATE CIX 




Above. — German Prisoners marching under French guard at Camp 
Joffre. 

Below. • — American Soldiers in action in the Argonne campaign — with 
machine gun. 



CHAPTER LXV 
SINCE THE WAR 

January 18, 1919, the Peace Congress met at Versailles to Danger of 
reconstruct Europe. There was supreme need. In Germany a ^^^^^^^^ 
National Assembly (elected by true universal suffrage, male Europe 
and female) had set up a federal republic. The new govern- 
ment was in the control of a union of " Moderate Socialists" and 
"German Democrats" (the old Liberals) ; but it had to main The Cer- 
tain itself precariously against revolts of " Extreme Socialists " "^^. ®' 
of the Bolshevist type, while from the opposite side it was 
threatened with aristocratic army-ofhcer plots for monarchic 
restoration. 

Hungary for a time had tried a liberal republican government. Hungary 
But the Allied blockade, stupidly continued, made work and food 
scarce, so that the starving populace soon set up a Bolshevist 
rule. (A little later, it may be added here, two more revolu 
tions, secretly backed by the Allied Council at Paris, had re- 
placed this government, first by a Moderate Socialist govern- 
ment and then by a reactionary army-officer government which 
is republican in little but name.) Meantime Roumania had 
taken advantage of Hungary 's woes to declare war ; and the 
Roumanian army had ravaged the country for months as sav- 
agely as ever Germany did Belgium, even after Hungary had 
assented to all Roumania 's demands for cessions of territory. 

Bohemia, enlarged by the addition of Moravia, had become Czecho- 

CzechoslovaJcia. This republic has so far been the most stable ^ °^^ ^* 

and promising of the new states in Central Europe ; but at the 

time it was distracted by conflicts with Germany, with Austria, 

and with Poland, over conflicting boundary claims. That 

new Republic of Poland, too, had other contests, bordering on New Baltic 

. . . . • • States 

war, upon her remaining frontiers — with Russian Bolshevists 

651 



652 



SINCE THE WAR 



Jugo-slavia 



and with Germany — besides being torn with internal faction 
and with peasant massacres of her Jews. Like anarchy, rising 
into civil wars, held sway in every other of the chain of border 
states that had split off from Russia, — Finland, Esthonia, 
Latvia, Couiiand, Lithuania, Ukrainia. 

Further to the south, Serbia had become Jugoslavia, by the 




Central Europe ix 1919. 

long-sought union with Bosnia, Slavonia, and Croatia ; but 
that still inharmonious state was in daily peril of war with Italy 
over the Adriatic coast, with some actual armed clashes. And 
Italy was at daggers drawn with Greece over southern Albania, 
the islands of the Aegean, and the coasts of Asia Minor. 

Each country felt, with too much reason, that the more it 
could lay hands on before the settlement, the more it would 



THE PEACE CONGRESS 653 

finally keep, and so sought to grab as much as possible in the Industrial 

interval. Still more serious than this political chaos was the • ®^°^^ " 

. . izanon 

demoralization of industry. Millions of disbanded soldiers 

were returning to their homes, after years of trench life, to find 

neither work nor food. Lack of shipping made it a slow process 

to bring into Central Europe the raw materials needed to start 

the factory wheels again and to replace the machinery worn 

out during the long Allied blockade. Over wide areas, idle 

multitudes were suffering from insufficient food ; and this distress 

was the harder to bear because in every country thousands of 

war-profiteers were spending their shameful riches in insolent 

waste. 

The Peace Congress was made up of delegations from the The Peace 
twenty-three Allied governments, with five more from Eng- ^°^sress 
land 's colonies — Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zea- 
land, and India. Each country's delegation had one vote. 
Countries that had been neutral were invited to send represent- 
atives to be called in upon special matters that might concern 
them. Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Russia were 
allowed no representation. 

President Wilson headed the xA.merican delegation ; Lloyd The " Big 
George and Orlando, the English and Italian premiers, rep- ^°^ 
resented their countries ; and Clemenceau, head of the French 
delegation, was naturally chosen president of the assembly. 
These leaders made up the "Big Four," and part of the time 
this inner circle became the "Big Five" by the inclusion of the 
Japanese representative. 

From the first there were critical differences within the " Big Woodrow 
Four." Mr. Wilson had promised the world, Germany included, WUson 
"a permanent peace based on unselfish, unbiased justice," and 
" a new international order based upon broad universal principles 
of right." Lloyd George was inclined to sympathy with such 
a program; but he was sadly hampered in action, because, in 
the parliamentary elections just before, he had won by appeal- 
ing to the worst war passions of the English people. The other 
leaders thought President Wilson, in Clemenceau 's words, 



654 



THE PEACE CONGRESS 



Weakened 
by events 
in America 



merely a benevolent dreamer of Utopias, and they preferred to 
rest rearrangements upon the old methods of rival alliances 
and armed camps, to maintain a balance of power — a plan which 
bloody centuries had proved a seed bed of war. 

By the war-weary peoples of Europe, however, the Wilson 
program was at fu-st hailed with joy. While the diplomats were 




"The Big Four." — Lloyd George, Orlando, Clemcnccau, Wilson. 

skillfully delaying the meeting of the assembly, he journeyed 
through England, France, and Italy, received everywhere by 
the working masses with striking demonstrations as " the presi- 
dent of all of us, " the apostle of world peace and human brother- 
hood. For a time it looked as though he might at a pinch 
override the hostile attitude of the governments by appealing 
over their heads to the peoples themselves; and in a great 
speech at Milan, just after slurring attacks upon him by French 
statesmen, he hinted forcefully at such a possibility. 

But as months passed in wearisome negotiations, old ani- 
mosities began to show in each nation toward neighboring 
peoples, until this chance for generous unanimity was lost. 
Moreover, Mr. Wilson had been seriously weakened by events 



THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 655 

at home. Late in the campaign for Congressional elections in 
the preceding November, he had made an unfortunate appeal 
for indorsement of his policies by a Democratic victory. In- 
stead, the elections gave both Houses to the Republicans ; and 
the jubilant and vengeful victors at once entered upon a course 
of bitter criticism and obstruction — of which Mr. Wilson 's 
European opponents took shrewd advantage to weaken his 
influence at Paris. 

In spite of Mr. Wilson's declaration for open negotiations Secret 
(p. 645) the European diplomats, with their traditions of back- "®^° 
stair intrigue, carried the point for only occasional full and pub- 
lic meetings. Meantime all important matters were settled 
by the inner circle in secret conclave, so that the six public 
meetings of the Congress (up to July) were called merely for 
formal ratification of conclusions already arrived at by the " Big 
Four." 

To offset this disappointment, Mr. Wilson seemed for a while Covenant 
to have won a splendid victory for a "League of Nations." ^V^ ^q^^^ 
Three months before America entered the war (January 22, 
1917), as his last peace effort, he had read to the American 
Congress a notable address proposing a League of Nations to 
enforce peace, — a peace made by free peoples (among whom 
the small nations should have their full voice), secured "by 
the organized major force of mankind." This address itself 
was one of the mighty events in history. Individuals had 
dreamed sometimes of a world organization for peace and prog- 
ress ; but then for the first time did an authorized spokesman 
of a great nation bring that idea into the realm of practical 
statesmanship. Now Mr. Wilson felt unhesitatingly that the 
building of such a world league was the most important work 
of the Versailles Congress — and indeed a necessary prelude 
to any peace other than one of vengeance and booty. 

In March, after some weeks of consideration, a committee 
headed by Mr. Wilson made public a League covenant (constitu- 
tion) it had prepared. After sharp criticism in the United 
States Senate, this constitution was slightly modified, and then 



656 THE PEACE CONGRESS 

adopted by the Peace Congress. The union is very loose, and its 
managing bodies are not really a government. Charter member- 
ship was offered to forty-five nations, — all the then organized 
governments in the world except Russia, the four "enemy 
countries," and Costa Rica, San Domingo, and Mexico. 
Admission of new members, and other amendments, require 
the unanimous consent of England, France, Italy, and Japan 
(and America, if she joins the League), together with a 
majority vote of all states ; and for any other action of conse- 
quence the consent of all nations is demanded, except that no 
party to a dispute has a voice in its settlement. Wise provisions 
prohibit secret treaties in future, and seek to provide for dis- 
armament (though only by unanimous consent), for regulation 
of manufacture of munitions, for compulsory arbitration, and for 
delay in recourse to war even if an arbitration is unsatisfactory. 
The Ger- Meantime the French delegation, frankly skeptical as to the 

value of a League, had devoted itself to securing treaties of 
peace that should render Germany powerless to attack France 
again. Germany protested in vain against the rigor of the 
terms, but June 28 her helpless delegates (summoned to Ver- 
sailles for the purpose) signed the dictated treaty. The docu- 
ment would fill nearly half of this volume. Its main pro\i- 
sions, with those of subsequent treaties with the other " enemy 
countries," may be summarized briefly : — 

Germany's military power icas destroyed. Her navy was 
limited for the future to six battleships and six light cruisers, 
with no submarines ; and her army is not to exceed 100,000 
men — with a careful restriction, too, upon her manufacture 
of munitions. 

Germany 's old colonial empire was turned over to England, Bel- 
gium, and Japan, in accordance with a secret treaty under 
w^hich Japan had entered the war. (This division of plunder 
w^as faintly cloaked under a pretense that England and Japan 
were to be merely "mandatories" for the League of Nations, 
holding these backward districts as " a sacred trust for civiliza- 
tion." At the first session of the League Assembly, in Novem- 
ber of 1920, some of the small nations desired to establish rules 




■BlJ'. 


>^ j:: 


HB^ 


- bC t-i 






^BBf 


n !^ O 






w 


> o ':3 










m. 


- *^ -d 


I^H 


Qgg 










^fip™ 


^ = 2 


f 


o i: q 




^ rt 




K -^^ t- 




g 72 O 




3-2 S 


'' 


o 



THE NEW MAP OF EUROPE 657 

for that " tnisteeship" ; but the English representative declared 
flatly that no action there taken could "limit the freedom of 
action of his government." Moreover, Shantung with its forty 
million people remained in Japan's hands, without even the 
pretext of a "mandate," in spite of the vigorous protest of 
China.) 

Germany lost a fifth of her territory and j^opulatioyi in Europe, 
with her most valuable coal deposits. She not only returned 
Danish Sleswig^ to Denmark and Alsace-Lorraine to France, 
but also ceded three small areas to Belgium, and to Poland not 
merely her old Polish districts but also large strips of distinctly 
German territory in Upper Silesia and east of the Vistula. 
Moreover, to give Poland easy access to the sea, German Dant- 
zig became a "free" city (against its will), with roundabout 
provisions that leave it really subject to Poland. Likewise, by 
veiled annexation, France has possibly acquired the Saar valley, 
east of Alsace, with a solid German population.- 

The dismembered Austrian Empire, besides the territorial se- The Aus- 
cessions already noted (p. 651), very properly ceded Galicia *"^° treaty 
to Poland, Transylvania to Roumania, and Trieste and the 
Trentino to Italy ; but, in connection with this last cession, 
in order to provide Italy with a needless "strategic frontier" 
against Austria, that enfeebled country was compelled to cede 
also a strip of strictly Germ.an territory (the Brenner Pass in 
the Alps) with a quarter of a million of German people. In 
these ways, Hungary was reduced to about one third its former 

1 Sleswig determined its own fate (as the treaty had provided) by plebi- 
scites. Denmark showed an honorable and wise desire to annex only such 
districts as desired it, and readily acquiesced in the retention of two thirds 
of the old duchy by Germany. Parts of Upper Silesia were also to have 
settled their own fate ; but France and Poland managed later to take from 
Germany rich districts of that region in spite of an overwhelming German 
vote there. 

2 The treaty very properly gave France the Saar coal mines for fifteen 
years (under the control of an international commission dominated by 
France), in return for Germany's wanton ruin of French mines; but un- 
happily, it also provided that at the end of that time France should annex 
the district absolutely (even though the inhabitants should vote against 
that action) unless Germany should then pay at once the full value of the 
mines. Other provisions of the treaty (below) made it very probable that 
Germany would be unable to do that. 



658 



THE PEACE TREATIES 



Minor 
treaties 



The Ger- 
man indem- 
nity 



size ; and German Austria is left a petty state of 7,000,000 people 
grouped about Vienna ("a capital without a country") shut 
off from the sea, with its old markets and mines all gone and 
with little agricultural land. (This Austria has dragged out 
the years since the treaty in cruel starvation meagerly relieved 
by Allied charity. The land can raise at best only a sixth of 
its necessary food, and it has practically no other industrial 
resources. The people naturally desire incorporation into Ger- 
many ; but, at French insistence, the Peace Congress forbade 
this very natural application of the promised principle of " self- 
determination " because it might strengthen Germany.) 

In the complex Balkan readjustments, it was found difficult to 
follow the promised "lint\s of nationality"; but Greece and 
Serbia were given new territory on tlie north Aegean coast at 
the expense of Bulgaria — which was now shut off from the sea 
except by the route of the Danube. 

" Turkey^' was reduced to ^isia Minor, although Constantinople 
and "the Zone of the Straits" were also left in Turkish posses- 
sion subject to the control of an international commission and 
open to ships of all nations. Armenia and Arabia (the Kingdom 
of Hejaz) were declared independent states. Smyrna went to 
Greece ; most of tlie Aegean islands to Italy ; Syria (much 
against its will) to France ; and Mesopotamia equally unwill- 
ingly to England. (In the main this arrangement was a frank 
surrender to arrogant imperialism, French and English ; and 
these "protectors" of Mesopotamia and S>Tia have been com- 
pelled to maintain their authority by bloody campaigns. As a 
by-product of these arrangements, too, and of the collapse of 
Russia, English imperialism has secured control of all Persia. 
Moreover, in 1921, dissatisfied Greece w^ent to war with Turkey 
for more plunder In Asia ]\Iinor.) It should be added that, 
to the chagrin of the Arabs now in possession, Palestine was 
set aside, under English protection, for a home for a restored 
Jewish state — if Jews return there in sufficient numbers. 

Most troublesome of all was the question of the money " repara- 
tions" to be paid by Germany. That country was required to 
pay at once some five billions of dollars in gold and in goods 



PLATE CXI 




Copyright by Underwood ct- Underwood 
Lloyd George and Aristide Briand (the French premier) in conference at 
Cannes in August, 1921. After the close of the Peace Congress in the 
fall of 1919, the real government of Europe lay in an "Allied Council" 
holding frequent sessions and made up of representatives of the leading 
European "AlUes." The premiers of France and England were "the 
Big Two" of this Council through 1920-1921. Lloyd George, responding 
to liberal English feeling, soon showed a desire to adopt a gentler policy 
toward Germany. Toward the close, Briand was beginning to incHne 
slightly in the same direction ; but this so offended the anti-German feel- 
ing in the French Assembly that he was obliged to resign. 



THE GERMAN INDEMNITY 659 

(all then available), besides promising to supply many millions of 
tons of coal each year for ten years to Belgium, Italy, and France 
(in addition to the Saar arrangement). Further payments 
were left to be fixed by an Allied commission when it should 
be better knov/n what the damages were and how much it would 
be possible to take ; and until final payment was made a French 
army was to occupy the German districts west of the Rhine. 
France showed strong inclination to keep the total indemnity 
indefinite as long as possible, taking meanwhile from time to 
time all that could be found ; but I^loyd George and English 
public feeling gradually swung over to the opinion that German 
industry could not be expected to revive with its neck in a per- 
petually strangling noose ; and in February of 1921 the com- 
mission fixed the total indemnity at about fifty-six billions of 
dollars, to be paid in installments over forty years. Germany 
protested that this was an impossible sum, and many experts 
in the Allied countries declared it to be three or four times more 
than Germany could pay ; but France advanced her army of 
occupation further into German territory, willing apparently 
to retain such territory permanently in place of the money 
reparation. By selling paper money to foreign speculators 
(mainly American), Germany then did secure gold enough for 
the first two installments ; but that currency depreciated to 
almost nothing, so that this process cannot be repeated ; and at 
this writing (March, 1922) the German indemnity remains a 
chief cause of world demoralization. 

England and the United States formerly sold vast quantities And world 
of goods to Germany. Germany now has no w^ealth with which 
to buy, — which is one cause why English and American facto- 
ries are idle (1922) and American farm products of little value. 
Moreover, if Germany is to pay any further indemnity, she must 
get the gold by exporting factory goods. To do that she must 
undersell English and American factories in some market (to 
the still greater demoralization of the trade of those countries). 
Therefore England insisted that Germany must place a heavy ex- 
port tax upon her ow^n goods. This makes it difficult for her to 
undersell England — but it also makes it well-nigh impossible 



660 



THE PEACE TREATIES 



The secret 
treaties 



Criticism 
of the Ver- 
sailles treaty 



for her to get gold wherewith to pay indemnities. The world 
is slowly discovering that, under the delicate adjustments of 
modern trade relations, it is not an easy thing to take a huge 
indemnity in money from one country without injuring many, 
other countries. 

Many of the objectiona})le features in the treaties were due 
to the secret bargains for division of spoils by which the Allies 
had bought the aid of Japan and Italy. When the Congress 
met, those bargains were not generally known ; but it soon be- 
came clear that they would prevent a peace closely in accord 
with the Fourteen Points. For a time Mr. Wilson stood out 
against the Congress becoming "a Congress for booty"; and 
once (when Orlando insisted that Italy should have Croatian 
Fiume, the natural Adriatic door for Jugoslavia) he even cabled 
to America for his ship. This extreme threat prevented that 
particular act of plunder — though Orlando was so incensed 
that he left the Congress for some weeks ; and in the end Mr 
Wilson was induced to reconcile himself cordially to the treaty 
for the sake of securing the League of Nations. 

As soon as the treaty with German}' was made public, how- 
ever, it was denounced vehemently by many earnest thinkers in 
all lands. Indeed some of the experts attached to the American 
delegation had already resigned in protest ; and Jan Smuts, 
South Africa's hero-statesman, declared in a formal statement 
that he signed for his country only because peace must be made 
at once and because he hoped that the worst features of the 
treaty might be modified later by the I^eague of Nations. Such 
criticism had little or nothing to do with sympathy for Germany. 
It was based upon the conviction that the treaty was dishonor- 
able to the victors, inasmuch as it V)roke faith with a submis- 
sive foe after surrender, and that it would breed future wars — 
and so broke faith even more fatally with hundreds of thousands 
of splendid youth who gave their lives, in long torment and suf- 
fering, to " win a war that should end war." At the same time 
the severest critic must confess that the new ^ap made 

at Versailles is at least a tremendous advance over the old map 
of 1914, with political divisions drawn far more according to the 



AMERICA AND THE LEAGUE GGl 

reasonable and natural lines of race and language and popular 
desires. 

In America there was much opposition to joining the League 
of Nations. President Wilson's influence finally rallied the 
Democratic Senators in favor of ratification of the Covenant 
without modification. With equal imanimity, the Republi- 
cans opposed it — but upon two widely different grounds. A 
small section declared that for America to join any such " super- 
government" would sacrifice her sovereign independence ; that 
we were able to take care of ourselves, and should let the rest 
of the world look after itself. A much larger group objected 
to particular features of this Covenant, but agreed that it was 
no longer possible for America to hold aloof from Europe. Said 
Ex-President Taf t : 

"The argument that to enter this covenant is a departure from the 
time-honored policy of avoiding 'entangUng alHances' is an argu- 
ment that is blind to changing conditions. . . . The war ended that 
policy. ... It was impossible for us to maintain the theory of an iso- 
lation which did not exist in fact. It will be equally impossible for us 
to keep out of another general European war. We are just as much 
interested in preventing such a war as if we were in Europe." 

Republican Senators, representing this view, added to the The United 

covenant certain amendments, with which thev were willing States re- 

fuses to 

to ratify. President Wilson claimed that such amendments enter the 
w^ould make ratification invalid ; and against his influence the league 
Republicans could not muster the necessary two thirds vote in 
the Senate. The Democrats failed likewise to secure the 
necessary votes for ratification in the original form. W'hile 
touring the country to arouse support for the covenant, Presi- 
dent Wilson suffered a distressing physical breakdown, and the 
whole question hung fire for many months. In 1920, the Presi- 
dent hoped to make the election of his successor a " solemn ref- 
erendum" upon the matter. As usual in American politics, 
too many other questions eintered into the campaign to leave 
any one issue absolutely clear cut ; but the Republican " land- 
slide" victory shelved any probability of the United States 
entering the League for years to come. 



662 



BOLSHEVIST RUSSIA 



The League has accompHshed some useful work in settHng 
minor European differences, and it has admitted several new 
members — Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Luxemburg, Costa Rica, 
and Albania ; but the absence of the Ignited States (now the 
most powerful and richest country in the world) seriously handi- 
caps its usefulness, — especially as Germany and Russia are 
still excluded. It is far from being a world organization. 



Bolshevist 
Russia 



The soviet 
system 



Another disturbing factor in the slow return of world progress, 
which the Peace Congress did little to help, was Bolshevist 
Russia. After the fall of the Tsar, society in Russia collapsed. 
Criminals, singly or in bands, worked their will, unchecked 
by any government, in robbery, outrage, and murder, not only 
in country districts but even in the public streets of great cities. 
The cities were starving ; and speculators were increasing 
the agony by hoarding supplies to sell secretly to the rich at 
huge profits. Our papers, especially in their cartoons, ascribed 
all this to the Bolshe\'ists — who in reality put it down in many 
districts. Kerensky had proved utterly unable to grapple with 
the situation ; but when the Bolshevists came to power, they shot 
the bandits in batches, and meted out like swift punishment to 
" forestallers " of food. In such summary proceedings, many 
innocent persons suft'ered along with the guilty ; but at least 
Russia was saved from reverting to savagery. Gradually order 
and quiet were restored ; and the available food was " ra- 
tioned" rigidly, the Bolshevists taking particular care of chil- 
dren of all classes. 

The Bolshevists claimed to give political citizenship to all 
useful workers — including teachers, actors, physicians, en- 
gineers, and industrial managers, but excluding the idle (rich 
or poor) along with bankers and lawyers, for which classes their 
society has no place. Their governing bodies represent, not 
individual citizens (as our Western governments do), but the 
different kinds of industries. In each "district," there is a 
shoemakers' union, a teachers' union, and so on. Each 
such union chooses delegates to the soviet (p. 592) of the dis- 
trict. These district Soviets are local governments ; and further 



FREE SPEECH SUPPRESSED 663 

all of them within a given province send delegates to a higher 
"provincial soviet." Delegates from the various provincial 
Soviets make up the central and supreme soviet at Petrograd. 
(All delegates are subject to recall at any time by the bodies that 
elected them.) 

For the first time in history on a large scale, this government 
at once put into actual operation an extreme kind of socialism, 
along with the confiscation of most private property. This 
alarmed the propertied classes everywhere. ^ The Allies at 
Paris did not think it safe to let the Bolshevist system w^ork 
out its own failure, but, fearing its spread to their own lands, 
attempted to overthrow it by force. Among the various 
reasons for this action on the part of the Allies, two stand out 
particularly : (1) Members of the Bolshevist government un- 
wisely and blatently preached a coming revolution for the 
world outside their own borders ; and (2) the Bolshevist plan 
had not been put into operation by the deliberate will of 
the Russian nation, but rather by a skillful coup cVetat on 
the part of the small but perfectly organized class of town 
workers. 

Indeed, the Bolshevist leaders frankly proclaim that (until Free speech 
they can train up a new generation) their government is not ^"PP""®^^ 
to be a democracy but a "dictatorship of the proletariat," rep- 
resenting a very small part of the nation. Apportionment 
of delegates to the Soviets is arranged, openly, so that ten peas- 
ants have no more weight than one factory worker. But the 
ignorant peasants (still making more than ninety per cent of the 
nation) were so poorly organized, and so content with the lands 
they had been permitted to appropriate, that they acquiesced 
passively ; and the small capitalist and professional classes 
were quickly suppressed. The Bolshevists seized control of 
the army and the press, and put down despotically all public 
agitation against their socialist system. At first, to be sure, 
they treated the old capitalist class with consideration so far 

1 These classes, too, especially in France, held the millions of dollars' worth 
of old Russian bonds, which the Bolshevists now unwisely repudiated on 
the ground that the Tsars had secured the money to hold the Russian people 
in bondage. 



664 



BOLSHEVIST RUSSIA 



The red 
terror 



Allied sup- 
port for 
" emigrant 
invaders 



Russian 
people 
rally patri- 
otically to 
the govern- 
ment 



as concerned their personal safety. But a little later, when 
the world was attacking Russia in open war, and when the dis- 
possessed Russian classes were carrying on a campaign of assas- 
sination of Bolshevist leaders and had struck down Lenin with 
a dangerous wound, the Bolshevists adopted a delil)erate policy 
of "Terror," arresting and executing some thousands of "aris- 
tocrats," until internal opposition was crushed. This parallels 
the story of the French Revolution except that the Russian 
"Terror," bloody as it was, was shorter and less atrocious than 
the French. 

Even before the Terror, the various non-socialist forces might 
have rallied, to overthrow or at least to modify Bolshevism, if a 
despotic blunder of the Allies had not identified Bolshevist rule 
with Russian patriotism. Like the French "emigrant" nobles 
of 1792, the Russian courtiers and nobles in 1917, fleeing from 
the Revolution, levied war against the new government of their 
country from without — with foreign aid. Supplied lavishly 
by the Allies and America with arms and money, they at first 
won some success. Kolchak for a time held most of Siberia, — 
succeeded, when the Bolshevists crushed him, by the Japanese ; 
Denekin, and later Wrangrl, began invasion from Ukrainia ; and 
Mannrrheim threatened Petrograd from the west. (It is to be 
added that hostile Roumania and Poland and small reactionary 
armies in the other new Baltic states, with the Allied blockade of 
Archangel, made the cordon complete.) All these Russian emi- 
grant leaders claimed that they desired constitutional govern- 
ment, but soon their deeds proved that they plotted for the 
restoration of despotism, and the needless and unspeakable 
atrocities of the various "White" terrors that followed their 
early successes at least equaled the excesses charged against the 
Bolshevists. 

It had been claimed that the masses of the Russian 
people, encouraged by the presence of invading armies, would 
rally to overthrow Bolshevist tyranny. Instead they rallied to 
the Bolshevists, to drive out foreign invaders. Especially did 
the leading "intellectuals" of Russia, like the famous author 
Maxim Gorky, now offer their services to that government, 



THE FAMINE OF 1922 665 

although many of them had just been suffering bitterly from it. 
The Russian organization showed amazing ability, and before 
1920 the newly created "Red army" swept the invaders from 
Russian soil, except for the Japanese in far-eastern Sil)eria. 
True, there followed twelve months more of war with Poland, 
aided freely with French money and officers and American 
munitions ; ^ but at last, by wise diplomacy, Russia secured 
peace in that quarter also. 

The Allied "blockade" of Russia, however, lasted on in The Russian 
fact into 1921. The small Baltic states, from which she had won ' blockade " 
peace, had no resources for trade ; and though England and 
America had technically lifted the blockade some months 
earlier, both continued to refuse passports and even mail 
and wire communication. This policy absolutely prevented 
trade. Meantime the lack of food and of medical supplies — 
which the Bolshevist government was eager to pay for in gold — 
killed more people (mainly mothers, young babies, and other 
hospital cases) than a great war. The blockade, too, kept 
Russia from getting cotton or rubber for her factories, or loco- 
motives for her railroads, or machinery for her agriculture ; 
and so gave the Bolshevists a plaiisible excuse for the slowness of 
their industrial revival. 

Then there descended on unhappy Russia in 1921-2 the most The Rus- 

horrible famine ever known even in that land of famines. ?^^^ /"^~ 

ine of 

When the large tracts of the former propertied class, which 1921-2 
used to be farmed by machinery, were turned over to the peas- 
ants by the Revolution, it was impossible for them to cultivate 
these on as extensive a scale as formerly, because they 
lacked organization and machinery. To aggravate this con- 
dition Russia was visited by a long drought of unheard- 
of severity which resulted in a crop of only one-fortieth the 
average, so that, in the absence of trade with the world, 
millions were stolidly dying of hunger. This unparalleled 
suffering touched the heart of the world; and for months 

^ For a time the English government, it was beheved, planned to send 
an English army; but such a project was effectively barred by the unani- 
mous slogan from English organized labor — "not a man, not a gun, not 
a penny!" 



666 



A NEW AGE 



The war 
and civili- 
zation 



(February, 1922) governments and charitable organizations 
have been hurrying food and clothing to the stricken land. 

In the World War fifty-nine million men served in arms — 
nearly all the physically fit of the leading peoples on the globe. 
These suffered thirty-three million casualties, of which fourteen 
million were deaths or irremediable mutilation and ruin, besides 
an incalculable number of vitiated constitutions. Almost as 
many more non-combatants were victims of famine and pesti- 
lence. And the evil runs over into future generations. In all 
the warring countries the birthrate has declined alarmingly and 
the human quality has deteriorated. As to material wealth, a 
huge portion of all that the world had been slowly storing up 
for generations has gone and in many districts all machinery 
for producing wealth is in ruins. 

Indeed the world had used up its prospects for long to come. 
Future generations are mortgaged to pay the war debts. 
America entered the struggle late, and made comparatively 
little sacrifice ; but even this country came out of the war with 
a debt larger than the total receipts of its treasury in all its 
century and a half of history.^ England suffered less than the 
continent ; but in England, merely to keep up the interest on 
the debt, along with her old annual expenditure, the nation 
must raise five billions of dollars a year — which means a taxa- 
tion per family of al^out twenty times that which an average 
American family paid before the war. The totals of French 
and German indebtedness are so huge as to have little mean- 
ing to us. 

This financial distress is tremendously aggravated by dis- 
order in the currency in European lands. During the w^ar 
years, or very soon after, nearly all the gold of the world passed 
into America. Most continental countries have no money 
except a terribly depreciated paper money, — money worth 
in Germany about one fortieth its face, and in Austria less than 
one two-hundredth. This demoralizes all industry at home, 



^ This does not include some ten million dollars lent by America to the 
Allies during the war, the payment of which is problematical. 



THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE 667 

creates bitter suffering for the poor and for people living on 
salaries and other fixed incomes, and of itself it could prevent 
the revival of foreign trade. 

The World War struck civilization a staggering blow, but there Pacific 
are hopeful signs that the warning has not been in vain. ^"®^ ^°^^ 

Two of the great powers suffered little directly from that 
war, — the United States and Japan. Between these two there 
were old causes of irritation ; and the war left with them new dis- 
putes — as to Japan's relations to China (and to American 
trade there) ; as to her control of Pacific cables wrested from 
Germany ; and so on. At once the two countries entered upon 
an open and ominous rivalry in enlarging their navies, upon a 
scale never before dreamed of, and in fortifying their Pacific 
possessions. To any one who held in mind the lessons of the 
past, all this indicated at least a serious danger that America 
and Japan might soon drift into another annihilating war — 
which of course would quickly involve the rest of the exhausted 
world. 

Wise statesmanship has for the present removed this peril. The Wash- 
Diplomatic negotiation of the usual sort was failing to lessen Jg^^ce of^' 
the danger ; but in the summer of 1921, Mr. Harding, President November, 
of the United States, called an international conference at Wash- ^^^^ 
ington to consider the limitation of naval armaments and the 
matters of dispute in the Pacific. This Washington Conference 
was attended, of course, by representatives of England, France, 
Italy, and Japan, and also of four smaller powers with interests 
ill the Pacific — China, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland. 
Charles Evans Hughes, the American Secretary of State, presided. 
(China, not unnaturally perhaps, was present in the part of a 
petitioner rather than in that of an equal partner in conclu- 
sions.) 

The Conference opened November 12, 1921, and continued The "naval 
twelve weeks. On the opening day Mr. Hughes took away the 
breath of the world b}' making public a detailed proposal for 
naval reduction. America and England, according to this plan, 
should keep navies of equal power ; Japan should have three 
fifths the strength of either of them ; each of the three was to 



holiday 



668 



A NEW AGE 



scrap all new ships in construction and a certain proportion of 
its old vessels ; ^ and no new warship should be begun by any 
of them for ten years. 

Eventually the Conference adopted the proposal with no 
essential change. It also provided for stopping the fortification 









^ 


















i * 








M. ''^ "^^^^bL 


^ 


a 




i Jg 




jM 




i 


■IMh 


■iii^BHHi 


TBlP**^ 


^SH^H 




"^^^^^^^H 


Wi- 






^^S 




P^''^™ 


fc 


,-^:: ' 


IB 


■MT 

i 




J 


^M 




Hi 


^ ■'■ - 




H 



American Warships kv New York Harbor. The super-dreadnought, 
Utah, in the foreground, has a tonnage of some 21,000. The ships under 
construction, but scrapped after the "Washington Conference, would have 
been much hirgor, as indeed are several of the vessels now in commission. 

of Pacific Islands by America and Japan. England and Japan 
agreed that it was unnecessary to renew their twenty-year 
alliance (p. 606), which was aboiit to expire and which many 
Americans regarded as a menace. And the great cable stations 
in the Pacific, at the island of Yap and elsewhere, were opened 
freely to the United States and other countries before shut out 
from them. 

1 All this applied to " capital ships," — dreadnoughts, super-dreadnoughts, 
and armored cruisers (such ships as are valuable not so much for defense 
as for attack). The United States scraps thirty ships, sixteen of them under 
construction upon which she had already expended a third of a billion 
dollars. 



THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE ' 669 

China got less than she wanted, and less than America would Some justice 
have been pleased to see her get ; but she got much. Japan 
withdrew the most offensive of her twenty-one points (p. 613) 
— which had required China to agcept Japanese officials into 
her administration in order to care for Japan's interests in 
China ; and she promised definitely to surrender Shantung at 
the end of five years, upon condition that China at that time 
should pay a specified and not unreasonable price for the railroad 
l)uilt there by Germany and Japan. England freely returned 
Waihaiwai to China (p. 608). All the powers, too, surrendered 
certain peculiar rights which they had enjoyed, beyond the con- 
trol of the Chinese government, — rights which had been a 
humiliation to Chinese dignit}' and which often became a cover 
for exploitation. All, too, agreed to maintain in future an 
"open door" policy in their relations with China, and to make 
public at once any future treaty with that country. 

The unfortunate attitude of France made it impossible to A promise 

secure anv agreement to reduce land armaments or to accom- ° /^^^^^^ 

" . . . . . things 

plish anything worth while in submarine reduction. Many other 

valuable suggestions came to naught for the time. But the 

actual accomplishment of the Washington Conference h full 

of promise for the world. It has made war between the great 

powers over Pacific questions almost unthinkable for at least 

ten years — and it has pointed a way by which statesmen may 

use that interval to render future wars impossible. 

Americans have every reason to rejoice proudly that the 

proposal for a "naval holiday" came from our country. From 

no other could it have come with so good a grace. iA.merica, 

far richer now than any other hind, could at least stand the 

waste and expense of naval preparedness better than any other 

great nation could. For America, then, to suggest waiving that 

" advantage," showed a splendid faith in reason, rather than 

in violence, for the settlement of international controversies. 

We, here in America, hold in our hands the fate of the world, the 
hope of coming years ; and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our 
eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the dust the 
golden hopes of man. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 



APPENDIX 

A SELECT LIST OF BOOKS ON MODERN EUROPEAN 
HISTORY FOR HIGH SCHOOLS 

Starred volumes should be present in multiple copies. 

From Columbus to the French Revolution 

Beard, Martin Luther. London. i 

Beazley, Prince Henry the Navigator (" Heroes ")• Putnam. 

Bourne, E. G., Spain in America (Am. Nation Series). Harpers. 

Bradley, Wolfe. Macmillan. 

Fletcher, Gustavus Adolphus (" Heroes "). Putnam. 

Fox-Bourne, Sir Philip Sidney {" Heroes "). Putnam. 

Harrison, F., William the Silent. Macmillan. 

Lindsay, T. W., Luther and the German Reforynation. Scribner. 

Parkman, Francis, New France and Montcalm and Wolfe. Little, 

Brown, & Co. 
Seeley, Expansion of England. Macmillan. 

From 1789 to the Present Time 

*Anderson, F. M., Constitutions and Other Documents Illustrative of the 
History of France, 1789-1907. H. W. Wilson Co. ; White Plains, 
N. Y. 
Andrews, C. M., Historical Development of Modern Europe. (P>om 

1815 to 1897.) Putnam. 
Barker, J. E., Modern Germany. London. 
Cesaresco, Cavour. Macmillan. 
Crawford, Switzerland To-day (1911). New York. 
*Gardiner, Mrs. B. M., French Revolution (" Epochs ")• Longmans. 
Gibbons, H. A., New Map of Europe (1911-1914). The Century Co. 
*Hayes, Carleton, Modern Europe. 2 vols. Macmillan (Vol. II covers 

1815-1915). 

The Great' War. Macmillan. 

**Hazen, CD., Europe since ISln. Holt. 

Headlam, J. W., Bismarck (" Heroes "). Putnam. 

Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story. 

King, Bolton, History of Halian Unity, 1814-1871. Scribner, 

Kirkup, T., History of Socialism. Macmillan. 

Loreburn (The Earl ofj, Hoio the War Came (World War). London. 

An admirable .study by an anti-imperialistic Englishman. 

1 



^ APPENDIX 

Lowell, E. J., Eve of the French Revolution. 
Lloyd, A Sovereign People (Switzerland). New York. 
*McCarthy, Justin, Epoch of Reform, 1830-1850 C' Epochs") Long- 
mans. (An admirable volume on English history.) 

England in the Nineteenth Century. Putnam. 

England under Gladstone. London. 

*Mathews, Shailer, French Revolution. Longmans. 

"'Ogg, F. A., Social Progress in Contemporary Europe (1789-1912) 
Macmillan. 

*PhiUips, W. A., Modern Europe (1815-1900). MacmiUan. 

Rose, J. H., Napoleon. Macmillan. 

* Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era. Cambridge Press, 

* ^^«^ of Democracy in Great Britain. N(>w York. 

Russell, German Social Democracy. Longmans. 

Sparge. John, Elements of Socialism. Macmillan. 

Stephens, H. Morse, Revolutionary Europe, 1789-1815. Macmillan 

Wallace (and others), Progress of the Century (Nineteenth). Harpers 



INDEX 

Pronunciation, except for familiar names and terms, is shown by divi- 
sion into syllables and accentuation. When diacritical marks for Eng- 
lish names are needed, the common marks of Webster's Dictionaries 
are used. German and French pronunciation can be indicated only im- 
perfectly to those who are not familiar with the languages ; l)ut attention 
is called to the following marks : se and de = e : le = i ; the soft as- 
pirated guttural sound g of the German is marked g ; the corresponding 
ch (as in ich) is marked k ; the sound of the nasal French n is marked n ; 
for the German a and au the equivalents are indicated, to prevent con- 
fusion with Enghsh a; o is always the German letter; and u is the 
German sound which is equivalent to French u. In French words with 
an accent on the final syllable, that accent only is marked ; but it should 
be understood that in such words the syllables as a rule receive nearly 
equal stress. Silent letters are put in Italic. 



'' Abdul the Assassin" (ab'dul), 
623. 

Ab-ys-sin'i-a, and Italy, 571 ; in- 
dependent, 603. 

Act of Settlement (English), 340. 

Act of Supremacy (English), 384. 

Africa, partition of after 1884, 603 
and map opp. ; after World War, 
656. 

Agriculture, in France before the 
Revolution, 404-5 ; improvement 
in England in eighteenth century 
(rotation of crops), 465-6; tools 
of in 1800, cut facing 465; and 
new machinery, cut facing 477 ; 
cooperation in Denmark, 578-9. 

Airplanes, in war, 633. See Tenny- 
son. 

Aisne (an), Battle of, 647; map 
facing 646. 

Alabama Arbitration, the, 523. 



Al-ba'ni-a, 621 ; kingdom of, 624. 

Albigenses (al-bi-g6n'ses), 337-8. 

Alexander I (of Russia), 440, 445, 
449-50, 451, 587. 

Alexander II, 588-90. 

Alexander III, 590-1. 

Al-ge'ri-a, 554-5. 

Alsace (al sace'), becomes French, 
355 ; serfdom lingers in 1789, 
405 ; seized by Germany in 1871, 
545 ; recovered by France, 650 ; 
map after 558. 

America, European colonization, 
385 ff. ; and European wars, 
392-400. See United States of, 
South America, Spanish America , 
etc. 

American democracy, contrasted 
with English, 513. 

American Revolution, 400-401 ; 
the younger Pitt upon, 509 ; in- 



INDEX 



fluence upon French Revolution, 
412, 414, note. 

Amiens (iim-yan'), Peace of. 435; 
and World War, 646; map 
facing 646. 

Anesthetics, discovery of, 472. 

Anglo- Japanese treaty (an'glo), 
(1902), 606 ; not renewed in 1922 
because of Washington Confer- 
ence, which see. 

Anne, Queen, and ministerial 
government, 384; last royal 
veto in England, 513. 

Anne Boleyn (boorin), 339, 343. 

Arbitration, International, 616-620. 
See League of Nations. 

Argentina, and arbitration, 617; 
])r()gress, 618; trade of, 619. 

Argonne (ar-gon'), American sol- 
diers in the, 605 and Plate 
facing ()oO ; map facing 64(). 

Arkwright (ark'wright), Richard, 
and the water frame, 467. 

Armada, see Spanish Armada. 

Armenia (ar-me'ni-a), map after 
p. 660; Turkish massacres in, 
568-9 ; independent after World 
War, 658. 

Ashley (Shaftesbury), and factory 
reform, 520. 

Asquith (as'quith), English prime 
minister, 529. 

Astronomy, medieval, 357 ; Coper- 
.nican, 357-8. 

Augsburg, Peace of, 334. Map 
after 558. 

AusterHtz. Battle of, 439. 

Australia, and English coloniza- 
tion, 540-1 ; federal union, 542- 
3; in World War, 632; at 
Peace Congress, which see. 

Australian ballot, 541. 

Austria, and French Revolution, 
422, 426, 432 ; and Bonaparte's 
Italian campaigns, 432-3; and 



Napoleonic Wars, 438-440, 442, 
445; becomes an "Empire," 
444 ; and the rising after the 
retreat from Moscow, 447 ; "re- 
stored " at Congress of Vienna, 
449 ; dominates Germany, 454 
ff. ; and Holy Alliance, 458 ff. ; 
and Revolution of 1848, 486-90; 
loses Italy in 1859, 497-8 ; loses 
Germany in 1866, 502; the 
Dual Empire, see Austria- Hun- 
gary; and the World War, 649, 
657-8. 

Austrian Succession. War of, 398. 

Austria-Hungary, creation, 573 ; 
conglomerate character, 573-4 ; 
and the Balkans, 623-4 ; annexes 
Bosnia, 624 ; and the occasion 
for the World War, 628; dis- 
solution of, 649; see Austria 
and Hungary. 

Bacon, Francis. 344 ; and scien- 
tific method, 358. 

"Balance of Power" policy, and 
war, 392 ff. 

Balkan district, the, a seedbed for 
war, 621 ff. ; land and peoples, 
621-2; struggles with the Turk 
for freedom, 622-3 ; and Russian 
aid in 1877, 623; and Congress 
of Berhn, 623 ; wars of 1912-13, 
624-6; see World War and 
Peace Congress. 

Baltic Provinces (of Russia), 396; 
attempts to Russianize, 591 ; 
and World War, 646 ; see names 
of new states, Lithuania, Cour- 
land, Latvia. 

Banking, see Jews, Lombards. 

Bastile (bJis-teel'), fall of, 414. 

Batavian (ba-ta'vi-an) Republic, 
432, 442. 

Beet sugar, 445. 

Belgium, Spanish after rebellion of 



INDEX 



16th century, 348-50 ; ceded to 
Austria at Utrecht, 394 ; and 
French Revolution, 422 ; an- 
nexed to France, 424, 432; 
annexed to Holland by Congress 
of Vienna, 449, 452 ; and Revo- 
lution of 1830, 463 ; in 19th cen- 
tury, 577-8; and the Congo 
State, 603; invaded by Ger- 
many, 629 ; heroic resistance 
ruins German plans, 631 ; and 
German Colonies in Africa, 656. 

Belleau (b61-lo') Wood, Battle of, 
647 ; map facing 646. 

" Benevolences," 371. 

*• Benevolent despots," and their 
failure, 402-3. 

Berlin, Congress of, in 1878, 524. 

" Berlin to Bagdad," 624. 

Bern, 335, and map facing 336. 

Bessemer steel, and modern archi- 
tecture, 472. 

Bethmann-Holweg, 629-30. 

Bible, translated into German 
by Luther, 332; the English 
(iVychf's), 108; use of English 
Bible under Henry VIII, 340. 
See Erasmus, Septuagint. 

" Big Four," the, at Versailles, 
653, 654. 

Bill of Rights (Enghsh), 382. 

Biology, 597-8. 

Bismarck, Otto von, 501-5, 545, 
555, 563-8. 

Blanc (blafi), Louis, 481-2. 

Blenheim (blen'im). Battle of, 393. 

Blucher (blii'Ker), at Waterloo, 
451. 

Boers, in South Africa, 541-2. 

Bohemia, and Thirty Years' War, 
353, 354 ; and Revolution of '48, 
486. See Czechoslovakia. 

Boleyn (bool'in), Anne, 339, 343. 

Bolsheviki (b6l-sh6-vi'ke), 642; 
rule in Russia, 662-6. 



Bonaparte, see Napoleon. 
Boniface VIII, Po'pe, 313. 
Bosnia, separated from other Serbs, 

621-2; given to Austria to 

administer, 623; annexed by 

Austria, 624; and furnishes 

pretext for World War, 628; 

merged in Jugoslavia, which 

see. 
Bosseney (boss'ni), 507. 
Boxer Rising (China), 608-9. 
Braddock's campaign, 399. 
Brandenburg, Mark, see Prussia. 
Brazil, 618, 619. 
Bremen, 455 ; map after 559. 
Brenner Pass, the, transferred to 

Italy, 657. 
Brest-Litovsk, 646 ; map, 643. 
Bright, John, 521, 522. 
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 519. 
Brunswick, proclamation of, 422-3. 
Bundesrath (boon'des-rat), 559. 
Bulgarians, 621 ; under Turkish 

rule, 622-3; war of 1877, 623; 

and Congress of Berlin, 623 ; 

joins Teutons in World War, 

which see. 
Bunyan, John, 380. 
Burschen-schaften (bursch'en- 

shaft'en), 455. 

Cabinet government, evolution of, 
383-4; explained, 512-3. 

Calvin, John, 335-6. 

Calvinism, 334-6 ; see Presbyteri- 
anistn, Huguenots, Puritanism. 

Cambon (kom-bon'), 427. 

Campo Formio, Peace of, 432. 

Canada, French colonization, 386 
ff . ; l^ecomes English, 399 ; de- 
velopment of self-government, 
540 ; and federal union, 542-3 ; 
and World War, 632; repre- 
sented in Peace Congress and 
in League of Nations, 653. 



INDEX 



Capitalism, and industry, 474. 

See Industrial Revolution. 
Carlyle, 519. 
Camot (car-no'), " Organizer of 

Victory," 427, 428. 
Carrier (kiir-rl-a'), 428. 
Cartwright, Edmund, 468. 
Castelar, 574-5. 
Catherine of Aragon, 329. 
Catherine II (Russia), 396. 
Cavalier Parliament, 381. 
" Cavaliers " (English), 377. 
Cavour (cii-voor'), 497-9. 
Center, the (Catholic Pohtical 

party in Germany), 564. 
Chambord (sh6n-bor'), Count of, 

548-9. 
Chamonix (sh6m-o-nix'), Plate fac- 
ing 5S2. 
Champlain, 387. 
Champs de Mars (shoii de mars), 

Massacre of the, 417. 
Charles I (England), 371-8. 
Charles II, 378, 380-2. 
Charles V (Holy Roman Empire), 

319-20, 331-334; Plate facing 

334. 
Charles X (France), 461-2. 
Charles Albert, 490, 496. 
Chartist movement (English), 516. 
Chateau-Thierry (shat-to'-tyar-e'), 

047 ; map facing 646. 
Chaucer, quoted, 330. 
Chemistry, and Lavoisier, 406. 
Child labor, 475-6; see Factory 

Acts. 
Chili, and arbitration, 617, and 

the "A. B. C. concert," 618; 

trade of, 619. 
China, land and people, 606 ; 

stagnant civilization, 606-7 ; 

earh' European trade, 607; 

Opium War, 607-8; forced to 

open ports, 608; loses border 

provinces to European powers, 



608; Boxer Rising, 608-9; 
" Open door " policy and the 
United States, 609; and the 
Russ-Jap War, 609; Western- 
ization, 611-13; a republic, 
612; other progress, 612; and 
Japan, 613; and World War, 
640; see Washington Confer- 
ence. 

Christ of the Andes, the, Plate 
facing 617 ; see Arbitration. 

Churchill, Winston, 529, 530. 

Church of England, origin, 339-40 ; 
Protestant under Edward VI, 
340-1 ; Catholicism restored by 
Mary, 341-2; the Elizabethan 
Settlement, 343-6; and Puri- 
tanism, 968-76 ; Presbyterian in 
the Civil War, 378 ; Episcopacy 
restored, 380-1 ; disestablished 
in Ireland, 523, and in Wales, 
531. 

Clemenceau, " the Tiger," 644; at 
the Peace Congress, 653, 654, 
and passim. 

Clermont, the, 470 and Plate opp. 

Cleveland, Grover, and arbitration, 
616. 

Clive, Robert, 399. 

Cobden (cSb'den), Richard, 521. 

Code Napoleon, 436-7. 

Columbus, Christopher, and Amer- 
ica, 327. 

Commerce, review of in middle 
ages, 358-62; growth after 
Columbus, 362-4; and war 
danger, see Imperialism. 

Commonwealth, the English, 
378-9. 

Commons, House of. Plates facing 
376, 378, and cut on 385. 

Commimards (com-mun'ards), 
(Paris), 546-8. 

Conde (kon-da'), the Great, and 
Louis XIV, Plate facing 393. 



INDEX 



Confederation of the Rhine, 444. 

Congo Free State, 603. 

" Conservative," replaces " Tory," 
514; see table, pp. 514-5. 

Constantino I, King of Greece, 
641, 649. 

Constantinople, map after p. 218; 
capital of Greek Empire, 
247 ; repels Saracens, 254 ; and 
the Crusades, 295 ; captured by 
Turks, 317; goal of Russian 
ambition, 396 ; and Peace Con- 
gress, 658 ; Plate facing 613. 

Continental System (Napoleon's), 
441 £f. 

Convention of 1793 (the Year I), 
425-429 ; constructive work, 428. 

Cooperative agriculture (Den- 
mark), 578-9. 

Copernicus (co-per'ni-cus), 357. 

Copocabana (co-po-ca-ba'na) , Plate 
facing 618. 

Corn Laws, repeal, 521-2. 

Corrupt Practices Prevention Act 
(EngHsh), 518. 

Cortes (cor'tes), 457. 

Corvee (kor-va'), 406. 

Cotton Gin, 468-9. 

Counter Reformation, 336-8. 

Coup d'etat (coo d6-ta'), term, 
435 and note ; Napoleon's in 
1851, 493. 

Courland, 652 ; map facing 646. 

Covenanters, Scotch, 375. 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 340, 341, 342. 

Crimean (cri-me'an) War, 494; 
and Italy, 497. 

Croats, 487, 622 ; see Jugoslavia. 

Crompton (cromp'ton), Samuel, 
and the " mule," 467-8. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 375-9; Plates 
facing 375, 377. 

Cuba, and Spanish American 
War, 575-6; and World War, 
640. 



Custozza (koos-tod'za), Battle of, 

490 ; map after 454. 
Czechs (ch6ks), 486. 
Czechoslovakia, 651 ; map facing 

652. 

Daguerreotypes, 471. 
Danton (dan-ton'), 420-9. 
Dantzig (dant'zio), 657; map after 

454. 
Darwin, Charles, 597. 
Declaration of Rights (English), 

382. 
Declaration of the Rights of Man, 

418. 
Denekin (den'e-kin), 664. 
Denmark, 578-9; and Sleswig, 

637 and note. 
Desmoulins (da-moo-lan'), Camille 

(kji-mel'), 414. 
DeWitt Clinton, the (steam loco- 
motive), Plate facing 595. 
Diet, German, 331, note. See 

Westphalia, Peace of. 
Directory, the French, 430-1,434-5. 
Disestablishment, of the English 

Church, which see. 
Disraeli (diz-ra'li), Benjamin, 515, 

517, 523-4. 
Divine Right of Kings, theory of, 

369 ff. See William II of Ger- 

many. 
Domestic system, in manufac- 
tures, 366. 
Drake, Sir Francis, 348, 389, 390. 
Dual Alliance, the, 615. 
Dumouriez (du-moo-rg-a') , 426. 
Dunwich (diin'ich), 507. 
Dutch Republic, rise of, 350; see 

Holland; map after 350. 

Egypt, and Napoleon, 434; under 
English control, 539-40; a free 
state, 540. 

Eidvold (eid'vold). Diet at, 579. 



8 



INDEX 



Elba, 447, 451. 

Electoral College, of the Holy 
Roman Empire, 331, note. 

Electricity, Age of, 595. 

Eliot, Sir John, 371-4. 

Elizabeth, Queen (English), 343- 
7, 349. 

Elizabethan Settlement (of the 
Church), 344. 

Elizabethan Renaissance, 343-4. 

Elizabeth of Russia, 396. 

Emmet, Robert, 526. 

England, and Protestant Refor- 
mation, 339 ff. ; and Spanish 
Armada, 346 ; social and eco- 
nomic changes of 16th century, 
364-7 ; growth of manufactures, 
366 ; growth of commerce, 366- 
7; under the first Stuarts, 368- 
377 ; English Puritanism, 368 ; 
germs of political parties, 369- 
70 ; germs of ministerial respon- 
sibility, 371; Civil War, 377- 
8 ; the Commonwealth, 379 ; 
the Restoration, and the later 
Stuarts, 380-2; Revolution of 
1688, 382 ff. ; Ministerial gov- 
ernment, 383-4 ; Great Britain, 
385 ; acquisition of colonial em- 
pire, 389-91 ; and wars of Louis 
XIV, and Frederick II (which 
see), and colonial growth, 394, 
389-91, 399; and American 
Revolution, 400-1 ; and French 
Revolution, 426 ff. ; and Napo- 
leon, which see ; colonial empire 
confirmed by Congress of Vienna, 
449 ; and Industrial Revolution, 
465 ff. ; retrogression politically 
in ISth century, 506-9; reform 
in 19th century, 509 ff. ; recent 
reform, 529-534; colonial em- 
pire today, 537-41 ; and Ire- 
land (which see) ; and World 
W^ar, 629 ff . 



Episcopalianism, see Church of 

England. 
Erasmus (e-ras'mus), 329, 336. 
Esthonia, 652 ; map facing 646. 
Ether, see Anesthetics. 
Evolution, Theory of, 597. 

Factory reform (see Industrial 
Revolution), 519-22. 

Fair, the medieval, 359. 

Favre (favre), Jules (zhiil), 
545. 

Fenian movement, the, 526. 

Ferdinand of Spain, 457-8. 

Ferdinand of Austria, 334. 

Finland, acquired Ijy Russia, 396, 
449, 591 ; attempts to Russian- 
ize, 591 ; independent, 632, 641. 

First Reform Bill (English), 509- 
12. 

Fitch, John, 470. 

Fiume (fyii'ma), 660; map after 
454. 

Florida, 399. 

Foch (fosh), Ferdinand, 648. 

Fortescue (for't6s-cue). Sir John, 
364. 

Fourteen Points (Woodrow Wil- 
son's), 645-6, 650. 

France, acquires first colonial em- 
pire, 387-9; character of, ib. 
wars of Louis XIV, 392-4 
loss of colonial empire, ih. 
French Revolution, which see 
under Napoleon I, which see 
treaties of 1814, 1815, 447, 448- 
452 ; " restorations " at Congress 
of Vienna, which see ; Revolution 
of 1830, 461-3; of 1848, 480-5; 
Second Republic, 484-5; Sec- 
ond Empire, 492 ff. ; espionage 
and despotism, 493-4 ; and new 
wars, 495-6 ; Franco-Prussian 
War, 502-4, 544-5; Third Re- 
public, 544 ff. ; Peace of 1871, 



INDEX 



9 



545-6 ; Communards, 546-8 ; 
constitution, 549-52 ; republi- 
canism confirmed, 548-51 ; local 
government, 551 ; industries, 
552 ; wealth before World War, 
552-4 ; small land-holders, 553 ; 
ruin of World War, 554 ; second 
colonial Empire, 554-6; kultur- 
kampf, 556-8; see World War, 
Washington Conference. 

Frederick the Wise, 329, 332. 

Frederick I (Prussia), 397. 

Frederick II (the Great), 398-402. 

Frederick William, the Great Elec- 
tor, 397. 

Frederick William I, 397-8. 

Frederick William III, 455. 

Frederick William IV, 487-8, 500. 

Free Trade, English, 522. 

French and Indian War, 399. 

French Revolution, 404 ff. ; France 
before, 404-410; States General, 
411-2 ; National Assembly, 412- 
3 ; and American Revolution, 
412, 414, note ; Bastille, 414-5 
abolition of privilege, 415-6 
march of the women, 416-7 
"emigrants," 417; constitution 
of 1791, 418-9; peasant land- 
holders, 419 ; and war with 
Europe, 420 ff. ; panic, union, 
victory, 422-4; First French 
Republic, 425 ff. ; Revolution a 
proselyting religion, 424-5 ; the 
Terror, 428; constructive work, 
428-9 ; fall of the Jacobins, 429 ; 
the Directory, 430 ff. ; territorial 
gains to 1795, 432 ; and Napo- 
leon, which see. 

Froissart (frois'art), 307. 

Frontenac (fron-te-nac'), 388-9. 

Fulton, Robert, 470. 

Galileo (gal-i-le'o), 358. 
Gambetta (gam-b6t'ta), 544-5, 557. 



Garibaldi (g:ir-i-bal'di), 498-9. 

Geddes (geddes), Jenny, 375. 

Geneva, 335 and map opp. 336. 

Genghis (jen'giz), Khan (khan), 
395. 

Genoa, absorbed by Sardinia, '452. 

Geology, 596-7. 

George I (England), 384. 

George II, 384. 

George III, 508-9. 

German Empire (1871-1918), see 
Germany, Prussia, North Ger- 
man Confederation; making of, 
500-5 ; federal, 559 ; autocracy 
and militarism, 559-61; jungers, 
561 ; Capitalists, 561-2 ; growth 
of cities in, 562, note; Army, 
562-3 ; kultur-kampf , 563-5 ; 
Socialism, 564-5 ; and the border 
peoples, 566 ; Colonial Empire, 
566-9 ; dream of Mittel Europa 
empire, 568-7 ; prevents dis- 
armament at Hague Conferences, 
617, 619; and Turkey, 623; 
and Balkan wars, 624-6 ; army 
bill of 1913, 626; "wills the 
war," 626; effect of militarism 
upon, 626-8 ; see World War, 
Peace Congress, and German 
Republic. 

German Indemnity, problems of 
the, 658-9. 

German Reformation, the, 329- 
334. 

German Republic, 651, 656-7. 

Germanic Confederation, 454 ff. ; 
see North German Confederation. 

Germany, and Protestant Refor- 
mation, 329-334 ; ruin in Thirty 
Years' War, 354-5 ; see Austria, 
Prussia, and maps after 302, 314 ; 
Napoleon's new map of, 443-4; 
social reform in (Napoleon), 
444-5; and Congress of Vienna, 
which see; Germanic Confeder- 



10 



INDEX 



ation, which see ; Revolution of 
1848, 487-8 ; see North German 
Confederation, German Empire, 
and German Republic. 

Gibraltar, 394 ; Plate facing 576. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 389, 401. 

Gilds (gilds), become hindrances 
to progress, 362, 366-7 ; disap- 
pear from England early, 366. 

Girondists, 420, 426-7. 

Gladstone, William Evarts, 515, 
and -passim to 529 ; ()2o. 

Gogol (go'g6l), 588. 

Gorky (gor'kv), 664. 

" Great Britain," 385. 

Great Western, the, 471. 

Greece (Modern), war for inde- 
pendence against Turlcs, 458, 
460; and other Balkan states, 
621; see World War and Bal- 
kans. 

Green, John Richard {English 
People), forbidden in Russia, 
590. 

Greene (dramatist), 344. 

Grey (Earl), and Parliamentary 
reform, 510-2. 

Guillotine, the, 428 and note. 

Guizot (ge-z6'), 461, 480-2. 

Gustavus Adolphus (gus-ta'vus 
a-dol'phus), 354 and Plate opp. 

Haakon VII (hiiak'on), 581. 
Habeas Corpus, 381. 
Hague Peace Conferences, 616-7. 
Haig (ha/g). Sir Douglas, 647. 
Hakluyt (hak'luyt), Richard, Plate 

facing 389. 
Hamburg (ham'biiro), 454-5. 
Hampden (hamp'den), John, 372, 

374, 375, 378. 
Hapsburg (haps'burc), the, two 

branches, 334. 
Harding, President, and Washing- 
. ton Conference, 667. 



Hargreaves, James, and the 
" Jenny," 466-7. 

Harvey, William, and the circula- 
tion of the blood, 344, 357-8. 

Hasedera (hiis-e-de'ra), Plate fac- 
ing 604. 

Hay, John, 609. 

Hebrews, proposed to restore a 
political state in Palestine, 658. 

He'jaz, Kingdom of, 658. 

Henry VIII (England), 339-40. 

Henry IV (France), 352-3. 

Henry of Navarre, see Henry IV. 

Hogarth (ho'garth), William, cut 
on p. 385 and facing 385, 508. 

Hohenlinden (ho-/i6n-lin'd6n). Bat- 
tle of, 435. 

Holland, and Phihp II, 348; rebel- 
lion, 348-51 ; independence rec- 
ognized, 355; wars with Louis 
XIV, 392-3; decline, 399; see 
French Revolution, Batavian Re- 
public, and Napoleon; " King- 
dom of Holland," 442; annexed 
to France, 443 ; Kingdom of the 
Netherlands, 449 ; and Belgium, 
449, 463. 

Holy Alliance, the, 458-9, 463. 

Holy Roman Empire, and Peace 
of Westphalia, 355 ; a shadow, 
ended by Napoleon, 444. 

Home Rule (Irish), struggle for, 
see Ireland. 

Howe (sewing machine), 472. 

Hughes, Charles Evans, 667. 

Huguenots, 336, 366, 393, 397. 
" Hun," 634. 

Hungary, and Revolution of '48, 
486-7; see Austria- Hungary, • 
since the World War, 651. 

" Imperialism," and trade, 601- 
604 ; and danger of war, 620. 

Inclosures (English), 16th century, 
364-5 ; 18th century, 534-5. 



INDEX 



11 



Independents (in religion), English, 
see Separatists; and the Long 
Parliament, 377-9. 

India, French and English rivalry 
for, 398-9 ; under English rule, 
588-9; and the World War, 
632. 

Indirect taxes, term explained, 406, 
note. 

Indo-China, French seizures in, 
556. 

Indulgences, Papal, and the Ref- 
ormation, 329-30. 

Industrial panic, 1815-1819, 509- 
10. 

Industrial Revolution, 18th cen- 
tury, 465-470 ; and factory sys- 
tem, 473 ff . ; and growth of cities, 
474-6 ; and Manchester doc- 
trine, 476-7 ; and Socialism, 
which see ; recent developments 
— age of electricity, 595-7 ; 
and consolidation of capital, 
598-9. 

Innocent III, Pope, 337. 

Inquisition, the (Spanish), 337-8. 

Ireland, history to 1600, 346-7; 
and famine of 1846, 521-2 ; Eng- 
lish Church disestablished, 523 ; 
brief story of, from Elizabeth 
to 1800, 525-6; Rebelhon of 
'98, 526; Emmet's Rebelhon, 
526 ; Act of Union, 526 ; Young 
Ireland, 526 ; Fenian movement, 
526 ; English Church disestab- 
lished, 526 ; land reforms, 527, 
528; Home Rule struggle, 527- 
8 ; rise of Sinn Fein movement, 
528; Home Rule Bill of 1914, 
531 ; suspended, 532 ; and the 
World War, 532 ; since, 532-3 ; 
" Free State," 533. 

Iron, cast iron, 470. See Besse- 
mer steel. 

Ironsides, Cromwell's, 377. 



Italian War of 1859, 495. 

Italy, loses leadership in trade after 
Columbus, 380 ; Napoleon's 
campaigns in, 432-3 ; new map 
of, 443 ; and Congress of Vienna, 
448, 452; Revolution of 1820 
and 1830, see Sardinia and 
Sicily; Revolution of '48, 489- 
91 ; from '48 to '59, 496-7; War 
of '59, 495, 497-8 ; growth of, out 
of Sardinia, 498-9; acquires 
Rome, 505 ; constitution, 570 ; 
colonial empire, 571-2; the Irri- 
dentists, 571-2; and the Popes, 
572 ; and World War, which see ; 
entrance, 632 ; military collapse, 
642 ; victory on the Piave, 649 ; 
gains at Versailles, 657-8 and 
map opp. 

Ivan (e-van') the Terrible, 395. 

Ivry (iv'ry), Battle of, 352. 

Jacobins (French Revolution), 
420 ff. 

James I (England), 339, 369-71. 

James II, 381-2. 

Japan, medieval rumors of, in Eu- 
rope, 325 ; discussion of, 604 ff . ; 
Westernized, 604-5 ; expansion, 
605 ; war with China, 605 ; 
robbed of fruits of victory by 
Russia, 605 ; gains, 605-6 ; war 
with Russia, 609-12 ; and World 
War, 623; seizes Shantung, ib.; 
and Peace Conference, which see ; 
in Siberia, 665 ; and Washington 
Conference, 667-9. 

Jay Treaty, and arbitration, 
616. 

Jemmappes (zhgm-miip'), Battle 
of, 424. 

Jena (ya'na). Battle of, 440; 
map facing 502. 

Jesuits, 337. 

Jews, and " banking " in Middle 



12 



INDEX 



Ages, 361 and note ; treatment 

in modern Russia, 590. 
Jingo, term explained, 524, note. 
Jensen (jon'son), Ben, 344. 
Jugoslavia, 652, and map, ib. 
Jung Deutschland, quoted on war, 

627-8. 

Karlsbad (karls'bad), Decrees of, 

455-6 ; map facing 502. 
Kenilworth Castle, Plate facing 

343. 
Kerensky (ker-ens'ky ) , 641-2. 
Kiel Canal, 569, 628; map after 

559. 
Kiev, 394 ; map after 610. 
King William's War, 393. 
Knox, John, 345. 
Kolchak (kol'chak), 664. 
Korea fko-re'a), 605, 611. 
Kosciusko (kos-ci-tis'ko), 401. 
Kossuth (k6s-siit/i'), 487. 
Kotzebue (k6tz'6-bue), 455. 
Kremlin (krfim'lin), the, Plate fac- 
ing 588. 
Kulturkampf (kiil'tiir-kampf), in 

France, 556-8; in Germany, 

563-5. 
Kwangchowan (kwang'chow-an), 

608. 

Labor imions (Enghsh), 516, 

523 
Lafayette (in French Revolution), 

415, 416, 420, 423 ; and Second 

Revolution, 462. 
" Laissez-faire," 477. 
Lamartine (lam-ar-ten'), 482-3. 
Latimer (lat'i-m6r), Hugh, 342. 
La Salle (la salZe'), 387. 
Latvia (latVi-a), 652, and map 

after 660. 
Laud, Archbishop, 374, 375. 
Lavoisier (lii-wa-si-a'), 408. 
League of Nations, 605-6, 661-2. 



Leipsig (llp'sio), Battle of, 447; 

map after 454. 
Lenin (la-neen'), Nikolai (nik'o-lai) 

642, 664. 
" Letters of the Seal," 407. 
Leuthen (leu't/ien), Battle of, 399; 

map facing 402. 
Leyden (ley'den). Relief of, 350; 

map facing 350. 
Liaou Yang, Battle of, 610. 
Liberal, name replaces Whig, 514; 
tal)lo of administrations, 514-5. 
Liberia, 603. 

Lichnowsky (liK-nows'kj^), Prince, 
and proof of German guilt in 
causing the World War, 628 and 
note, 629. 
Lithuania, 646, 652 ; map, 652. 
Lloyd George, 529 ; budget of 1909, 
529-31; and Irish Free State, 
533 ; and Peace Congress, 653-4. 
Lombard bankers, medieval, 361-2. 
Long, Crawford W., 472. 
Lords, House of, and First Reform 
Bill, 511-2; reformed (veto), 
52^31. 
Louis XIII, 353. 
Louis XIV, 392-4. 
Louis XV, 407, 410. 
Louis XVI, 410, 422-3, 425. 
Louis XVIII, 447, 451, 461. 
Louis PhiUppe (phil-ippe'), 463, 

480-2. 
Louvre (loovr), art museum in 

modern Paris. 
Loyola, Ignatius, 337. 
Lusitania, the, 637. 
Luther, Martin, 329-334. 
Lutheran Church, the, 333, 334. 
Lyell, Sir Charles, 596. 

Macadamized roads, 466. 

Macaulay, on French war methods 
in time of Louis XIV, Plate fac- 
ing 392. 



INDEX 



13 



McCormick reapers, 471 and Plate 
facing 477. 

McKinley, President, and arbi- 
tration, 616. 

MacMahon (mac-ma-/ion'), Presi- 
dent of France, 549, 550. 

Magenta (ma-gen'ta), Battle of, 
495 ; map after 454. 

Majuba (ma-yu'ba) Hill, Battle of, 
342. 

Malplaquet (mal-plii-ka'), Battle 
of, 393. 

Manchester Political Economy, 
476-7. 

Manchuria, northern part becomes 
Russian, 586; Chinese Man- 
churia and Russia, 609, 611. 

" Mandatories," and former Ger- 
man colonies, 656-7. 

Mansfeld, 354. 

Marat (ma-ra'), 420-1. 

Marengo (ma-r6n'gd). Battle of, 
435 ; map after 454. 

Maria Theresa (t/?6-re'sa), 395. 

Marie Antoinette (ant-wa-n6t'), 410. 

Marlborough (marrbov-o), 393. 

Marlowe (mar'lowe), dramatist, 
344. 

Mime, Battle of, 631 ; map fac- 
ing 646. 

Marston Moor, Battle of, 377. 

Mary Tudor, 339, 341-2. 

Marx, Karl, 477-8. 

Maurice (mau'ris), of Saxony, 
Plate facing 334. 

Max, Prince, of Baden, 649. 

Maximilian, of Mexico, 495-6. 

Mazzini (mat-ze'ne), 489-91. 

Medicine, and biology, 597-8 ; see 
Anesthetics. 

Mercantile theory (Political Econ- 
omy), 367. 

Metric system, of weights and 
measures, devised and adopted 
in French Revolution, 429. 



Metternich (met'ter-niK), 452, 
453-4 and ff.; 485. 

Metz, 334, 545 ; map after 454. 

Mexico, and Napoleon III, 495-6. 

Militarism, Prussian army system, 
500-1 ; and Germany, 562-3 ; 
in Europe, 615-6 ; access in 
1913, 626; effect upon German 
people, 626-8. 

Milton, John, 380 and Plate fac- 
ing 375. 

Ministerial government, see Cab- 
inet government. 

Mirabeau (mir-ii-bo'), 413-7. 

Mittel Europa, 624, 632-3; map 
on 643. 

Money, and " usury " and bank- 
ing, 361 ; see Mercantile theory; 
European currencies demoralized 
after World War, 666. 

Monroe Doctrine, the, and Holy 
Alliance, 459-60 ; and Napoleon 
III, 495-6. 

Montenegro (mon-te-ne'gro), 622. 

Moreau (mo-ro'), 435. 

More, Sir Thomas, 340, 341, 365. 

Morgarten, Battle of, 335; map 
facing 336. 

Moriscoes (mo-ris'coes), expelled 
from Spain, 351-2. 

Morocco, 555-6. 

Moscow, burning of, 446 ; Napo- 
leon's retreat from, 446 and 
Plate opp. 

Mount Blanc. Plate facing 582. 

Mountain, the, in French Revolu- 
tion A^sembhos, 420. 

Muhlberg (mii/irberc). Battle of, 
Plate facing 334. 

Mukden (muk'd6n) Battle of, 610. 

Munitions, sale of in war by 
neutrals, 635-6. 

Murat (mu-ra^O, 443. 

Muskets, invention of, 354. 



14 



INDEX 



Nantes (nantes), Edict of, 352-3; 
revocation, 393 ; Carrier at, 428 ; 
maps of France. 
Naples, Kingdom of, 443; Rev- 
olution of 1820, 458; and of 
1848, 490; and Kingdom of 
Italy, 498. 
Napoleon I, as Bonaparte, saves 
Directory, 430-1 ; campaigns 
in Ital}', 432-3 ; character, 433 ; 
in Egypt, 434; overthrows 
Directory, 435 ; First Consul, 
435 fT. ; restores prosperity, 
436; code, 436; Emperor, 438; 
espionage and despotism, 438- 
9 ; and wars, 439 ff . ; greatest 
power, 445 ; new map of Europe, 
442-4 ; invasion of Russia, 445- 
6; fall, 446-7; return from 
Elba, 451; Waterloo, 451; 
Plates from 445 to 451. 

Napoleon II, 493. 

Napoleon III, Louis Napoleon, 
President of Second Repul)lic, 
484-5; Emperor, 492 ff. ; and 
Bismarck, 502 ; fall, 502-4 ; and 
Indo-China, 556. 

Napoleonic Code, the, 436-7. 

Naseby (nase'by). Battle of, 377. 

National Workshops (French, in 
'4S\ 483-4. 

Nationality, term explained, 453. 

" Naval Holiday," established by 
the Washington Conference, 
667-8. 

Navarino (na-va-re'no) , Battle of, 
400. 

Necker, 411 ff. 

Nelson, Admiral, 434, 440-1. 

New England Primer, 390. 

Newfoundland, becomes Enghsh, 
394. 

New Orleans, 387. 

Newton, Sir Isaac, 408. 

New Zealand, 541. 



Nice (nes), seized by France, 424; 
annexed by plebiscite, 432; 
restored to Savoy, 449; re- 
gained by France, 495. 

Nicholas I (Russia), 463, 588. 

Nicholas II, 590-1 ; and Hague 
Congress, 616; fall, 641. 

Nile, Battle of the, 435. 

Normal Schools, adopted by 
French Revolutionists, 420. 

Norway, handed to Sweden by 
Congress of Vienna, 450; wins 
self-government and indepen- 
dence, 579-581. 

North German Confederation, 1867, 
502, 503. See German Empire. 

Nova Scotia, becomes English, 394. 

Novara (no-vii'ni). Battle of, 490, 
and map after 454. 

Novgorod (nov'go-r6d), 394. 

O'Connell, Daniel, 526. 

Old Age Pensions (Enghsh), 531. 

Old Sarum (sfi'rum), 507. 

Olmutz (ol'miitz), Humihation of 

Prussia at, 488; map after 454- 
Orange Free State, 542. 
Oscar II (Sweden), 580-1. 
Oudenarde (ou-de-narde'), Battle 

of, 393, map facing 350. 
Owen, Robert, 477. 

Pan Slavism, 588. 

Panama Canal, 598. 

Papacy, the, and the Kingdom of 
Italy, 572. 

Papal infallibility, doctrine of, 563. 

Paradise Lost, 380. 

Paris, and Napoleon III, 494 and 
Plate opp. ; capture of, by Ger- 
mans, 544-5 ; and Communards, 
546-8. 

Paris, Congress of (1856), 497. 

Parliament (Enghsh), and the 
Stuarts, 368-382 ; and the Revo- 



INDEX 



15 



liition of 1688, 382 ff. ; term 
of fixed, 383; retrogression in 
18th century, 506-9 ; and Amer- 
ican Revolution, 509 ; and First 
Reform Bill, 509-12, 514; and 
Second Reform Bill, 516-7 
and election methods, 516-7 
and Third Reform Bill, 517 
duration changed to 5 years, 
531 ; and payment of mem- 
bers, ib.; and Fourth Reform 
Bill, 533-4. See Commons and 
Lords. 

Pasteur (pas-teur'), 597. 

Peace Congress (after World War), 
651 ff. ; conditions before, 651-2 
make-up, 652-3 ; method, 655 
and League of Nations, 655-6 
and peace treaties, 656-9 ; criti- 
cism of, 660. 

Peel, Sir Robert, and Corn-Law 
repeal, 521-2 and Plate facing 
522. 

Pedro (pe'dro), Dom (of Brazil), 
618. 

Penal code (English, 18th century ) , 
and reform, 510 and note. 

Perry, Commodore, and Japan, 
605. 

Persecution, Religious, 342, 380, 
352, 393. See Inquisition. 

Pershing, John J., 644. 

Peter the Great, 395-6. 

Petition of Right (Enghsh), 372-3. 

Petrograd, 396. 

Petroleum, importance of, 472. 

Philip II, of Spain, 334 ; and Mary 
Tudor, 342-3; power, 348; 
and the Netherlands, 348. See 
Spanish Armada. 

Philippines, American, 604. 

Physics, and Gahleo, 358. 

Piedmont (pted'mont), 449, note; 
map after 454. 

Pilgrims, the Plymouth, 369. 



Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan's), 380. 

Pitt, William (the Elder), 399, 
508. 

Pitt, William (the Younger), on 
the American War, 509. 

Pius IX, Pope, 490, 572. 

Pius X, Pope, 557. 

Plebiscites (pleb'is-cites), Napo- 
leonic, 438. 

Plow, modern improvements on, 
466. 

Pocket boroughs (Enghsh), 506-7. 

Poison gas, in war, 633. 

Poland, partition of, 401-2; see 
Duchy of Warsaw, and Con- 
gress of Vienna; . " union " with 
Russia, 450; rebelHon of 1830, 
463 ; consolidated with Russia, 
ib.; and World War, 646; 
Republic of, 651-2; and Peace 
Congress, 657. 

Political parties, development in 
England, 381-2. 

Port Arthur, 586, 605, 608, 610; 
map after 620. 

Portsmouth, Treaty of, 611. 

Portugal, colonial empire, 386 ; 
and Napoleon, 442; Revolution 
of 1820, 458, 577; Repubhc, 
577 ; and World War, 640. 

Prague, University of, and Thirty 
Years' War, 354. 

Prayer Book, English, 341. 

Presbyterianism, see Calvinism, 
in Scotland, 345 ; and land, 375 ; 
in England in Civil War, 377-8. 

Pride's Purge, 378. 

Protestant, term explained, 333. 
See Reformation. 

Protoplasm, discovery of, 597. 

Prussia, rise of, to Frederick II, 
396-8; and Frederick II, 
398-402 ; and French Revolution, 
Napoleon, and Congress of 
Vienna, which see; halved 



16 



INDEX 



by Napoleon, 440; Stein's re- 
forms in, 445; War of Liber- 
ation, 446-7 ; one of the 
" Allies " of 1913, 447 ff. ; " re- 
stored " by Congress of Vienna, 
44Q-50; Revolution of '48 in, 
487-8; " Humiliation of 01- 
miitz," 488 ; army system, 500-1 ; 
and William I and Bismarck, 
500 ff. ; seizure of Sleswig- 
Holstein, 502 ; war with Austria, 
and annexations, 502 and maps 
facing 402 and 502 ; and Franco- 
Prussian War, 502-5. See Ger- 
man Empire. 

Puritanism, 368-9 ; and American 
colonization, 374, 390. 

Pym, John, 375-6, 378. 

Quebec, 386. 

Queen Anne's War, 386. 

Rack rent fin Ireland), 525. 

Railroads, 470-1. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 389. 

Ramillies (ra-me'ya), Battle of, 
393 ; map facing 350. 

Reed, Major Walter, 597. 

Reformation, the Protestant, 329 ff. 

Representative government, 
growth in England, see Parlia- 
ment. 

" Responsible " ministries, 383-4. 

Restoration, the EngHsh, 380 ff. 

Revolution, The Glorious, of 1688, 
382 ff. 

Revolution of 1820. 457-9. 

Revolution of 1830, in France, 
461-3 ; in central Europe, 463. 

Revolution of 1848, in France, 
480-5; in central Europe, 485 
ff. ; in Austrian Empire, 486-7 ; 
in Prussia, 487; in Germany, 
487-8; in Italy, 488-91. 

Rheims Cathedral, Plate after 634. 



Ribault (re-bo'), 387. 

Richelieu (re-sh61-yii'), Cardinal, 
353, and cut opp. 

Ridley, martyr, 342. 

Rio de Janeiro, Plate facing 618. 

Robespierre ^robes-pierre'), 421, 
427, 429, 430. 

Rome, city of, in Revolution of 
'48, 490; French garrison in, 
490-1 ; Italy acquires, 505. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 611. 

Rossbach frSs'baK), Battle of, 399; 
maj) facing 402. 

Rotten boroughs (English), 507-8. 

Roumania, wins partial self-govern- 
ment from the Turk, 622 ; in- 
dependence, see Balkan dis- 
tricts for 1877; and World War, 
641 ; and Hungary after the 
war, 651. 

" Round Heads," English, 377. 

Rousseau (rous-so'), 410. 

Rudolph of Hapsburg (haps'buro), 
335. 

Rump Parliament, the, 378-9. 

Rumsey, James, 470. 

Russell, Lord John, 510. 

Russia, early history, 394; Greek 
Christianity, 394; Tartar con- 
quest, 394-5; wins freedom, 
395; Asiatic, with "European 
veneer," 395-6; march to the 
seas, 396 ; southeast Baltic 
coast, 396; other expansion, 
396, 401-2; Tilsit, 440; 
Napoleon's invasion and defeat, 
445-7; and Holy Alliance, 
which see; territorial growth 
summed up, 586-7; in 19th 
century, 587-8; emancipation, 
588-9; and failure of, 589; 
persecution of liberals, 589-90; 
Nihihsts, 589-90; Jews and, 
590-1 ; border provinces 

Russianized, 591 ; and Industrial 



INDEX 



17 



Revolution, 591; Socialism in, 
591 ; violent methods of conspir- 
ators, 592 ; Revolution of 1905- 
6, 592-5 ; the Dumas of 1906-12, 
593-5; Soviets, 593; failure of 
the Revolution, 594; and the 
World War, 632, 641 ; Revolu- 
tion of 1917, 641-2 ; and Brest- 
Litovsk, 646; under Bolshevist 
rule, 662-6; Alhed blockade, 
665 ; famine of 1921-2, 665. 
Russian Jews, 590-1. 

Saar (saar) coal, the Peace Con- 
gress award, 657 and note ; map, 
652. 

St. Bartholomew's Day, Massacre 
of, 352. 

St. Basil's, Moscow, Plate facing 
395. 

St. Helena, 451. 

St. Just, 427. 

St. Mihiel, 648 ; map facing 646. 

St. Peter's, Rome, 329 and Plate 
facing 330. 

St. Petersburg (Petrograd), 396. 

Sadowa (sad-ow'a), Battle of, 604. 

Saloniki (sal-6n-ik'i), Greek, 625. 

Sardinia, Kingdom of, see Savoy 
and Piedmont; " restored " at 
Vienna, 449 ; reaction, 453 ; 
Revolution of 1820, 458; of 
1848, 490-1 ; story to '59, 497- 
8; grows into "Italy," 498-9. 
See Italy. 

Savoy (sa-voy'), 424, 432, 449, 
495. 

Schellendorf (sch6ri6n-dorf), Von, 
on German destinj^ 627. 

Schurz, Carl, 488. 

Schwyz (schwyz), 335 and map 
facing 336. 

Science, Baconian method, 358; 
progress in 19th century, 595; 
see Evolution, Biology. 



Scotland, and John Knox, 345; 
union with England, 385. 

Scutari (.scli-ta'ri), 624; map, 625. 

Scythe (cradle scythe), invention 
of, 465. 

Second Reform Bill (English), 
516-7. 

Sempach (s6m'paK), Battle of, 335 
and map facing 336. 

" Separatists " (Puritan), 368-9. 

September Massacres (French 
Revolution), 424. 

Serbia, 621-3, 625-6, 632. 

Serfdom, lingers in Europe to 
French Revolution, 405; abol- 
ished by the Revolution, 419, 
424, 444-5 ; restored after Con- 
gress of Vienna, 453; finally 
disappears from central Europe 
in the Revolution of '48, which 
see ; abolished in Russia, 588-9. 

Seven Years' War, 472. 

Sewing machine, invention of, 472. 

Shakspere, 343. 

Shantung (shan-tung'), 568, 608, 
657, 669. 

Ship money, 374. 

Siam, 603. 

Sicily, becomes Austrian, 394. See 
Naples. 

Silesia (si-le'si-a), 398, 657. 

Sleswig (slgs'viG), 502, 566, 657 
and note. 

Smith, Adam (political economist), 
476-8. 

Smyrna (smyr'na), becomes Greek, 
658. 

Social Contract (Rousseau's), 410. 

Social Insurance, EngHsh, 531 ; 
German, 565. 

Socialism, 477-9 ; and Revolution 
of '48 in France, 481-2; in 
French politics, 554 ; in German 
Empire, 564-6; and the World 
War, 628 ; see German Republic. 



18 



INDEX 



Solferino (sol-fer-e'no), Battle of, 
495 ; map after 454. 

Solyman the Magnificent, 333. 

South Africa, 541-2. 

Soviet system (Russia), 662-3. 

Spain, decline, 351-2 ; colonial em- 
pire decoys, 386 ; loses European 
possessions outside its own bor- 
ders, and Gibraltar, 394; and 
French Revolution, which see ; 
Napoleon seizes, 442 ; War of 
Liberation, 442; Revolution of 
1820, and Holy Alliance, 457-9 ; 
loses Spanish America, 457-9 ; 
story of, after 1820, 574-6. 

Spanish America, 457-9, 617-9. 

Spanish Armada, 346. 

Spenser, Edmund, 343. 

Spinning wheel, 466-7. 

Steam engine, 469-70. 

Steam navigation, 470 and Plate 
facing 470. 

Stein, reforms in Prussia, 445, 454. 

Stephenson. George, 471. 

Stiles, Dr. Charles W., 597-8. 

Strassburg (strass'blirc), becomes 
French, 393 ; seized by Germany, 
545 ; map facing 646. See Alsace. 

Submarines, see U-craft. 

Suez Canal, 539, 598. 

Sun Yat Sen, 612. 

Sweden, territorial changes, 355, 
449-50 ; tries to annex Norway, 
450; union with, to dissolution, 
580-1 ; conditions to-day, 581-2. 

Switzerland, story to 1520, 334-5, 
and map facing 335 ; indepen- 
dence recognized, 355 ; neutrality 
guaranteed by Congress of 
Vienna, which see; stor>' from 
1815 to 1848, 582 ; and Sunder- 
bund War, 582-3; constitution 
of 1848, 583 ; direct democracy, 
583-4; success, 584-5. 

Syria, and France, 658. 



Taft, William H., on League of 

Nations, 661. 
Talleyrand, at Vienna, 450. 
Tartars, conquests of, 394-5. 
Tell, William, 335. 
Tennis Court Oath, 413. 
Tennyson, and prophecj^ of air- 
ships, 598. 
Tetzel (t6t'z6l), John, 329, 330. 
Tewksbury (tewks'bu-ry) Abbey, 

Plate facing 340. 
Textile Industries, see Industrial 

Revolution. 
Thiers (te-gr'), 462 and note, 

480-1, 54,5-9. 
Thirty Years' War, 353-5. 
Tilsit, Peace of, 440. 
Tintern Abbey, Plate facing 340. 
Tippoo Sahib (tip'poo sa'Ib), Plate 

facing 399. 
Togo (to'go), Admiral, 611. 
Tory, 381 ; see Conservatives. 
Toulon (tou-lSii'), 427, and map 

facing 443. 
Trading companies, medieval, 

363-4. 
Trafalgar (tra-fargar). Battle of, 

440. 
Tramps, English, in Elizabeth's 

reign, 365-6. 
Trans-Siberian Railroad, 586. 
Transvaal trans'vaal), Dutch, 544. 

See South Africa. 
Treaty of Paris, 1763, 399. 
Treitsche (trcit'sche), 627. 
Trent, Council of, 337; map after 

454; restored to Italy, which 

see. 
Trieste (tre-6st'), 572, 657; maps 

after 441, 454. 
Triple Alliance, 614-5. 
Triple Entente, 615. 
Troppau (trop'po). Congress of, 

458 ;' map after 454. 
Trotsky (trots'ky), Leon, 642. 



INDEX 



19 



Tunis, 555, 571. 

Turgeniev (tiir-ggn-iev'), 588. 

Turgot (tur-gsr), 410. 

Turks, the, in southeast Europe, 
621-2; Germany's vassal, 
568-9, 623-4; "Young Turk" 
movement, 613 ; gradual forced 
withdrawal from Europe, 622-3 ; 
war with Russia in 1876, 623 ; 
and Congress of Berlin, 623 ; 
and Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, 
624-5; and World War, 632, 
649 ; and Peace Congress, 658. 

U-craft, German, in World War, 
636-7, 639, 643-4; failure of 
Washington Conference to re- 
strict, 669. 

Ukrainia, 641, 646, 652, and map, 
652. 

Ulm, Battle of, 439 ; map after 454. 

Underground Russia, 591. 

United States of America, see 
America and Americayi Revolu- 
tion; a world-power after 1898, 
604; and China, which see 
and the World War, 634 ff. 
attempt at neutralit}', 634-6 
enters the war, 639-40; tre- 
mendous exertions, and effect, 
644 ff . ; and Peace Congress ; see 
Woodrow Wilson; and League 
of Nations, 661-2; and Wash- 
ington Conference, 667-9. 

Unterwalden (iin-ter-val'den), 335 
and map facing 336. 

Utrecht (li'treKt), Peace of, 394; 
map facing 350. 

Vane (vane), Sir Harry, 375, 378. 
Vardar (var'darj, Battle of the, 649. 
Vendee (ven-da'), 427. 
Vendome (ven-dome') Column, 440, 

547. 
Venice, 432, 449. 



Venizelos (v6n-i-ze'los), 649. 
Verona, Congress of, 459; map 

after 454. 
Versailles (v6r-si'), 412 and Plate 

opp. ; Peace Congress, which see. 
Victor Emanuel II, 496-8. 
Victoria, of England, 514. 
Victorian Age, the, Reform in, 

514-28. 
Vienna, Congress of, 448-452. 
Voltaire (vol-taire'), 408, 409. 

Wagram (wa'gnim). Battle of, 44; 

map after 454. 
Waihaiwai (wai-hai-wai'), 608, 669; 

map after 620. 
Wallenstein (val'len-stein), 354. 
Walpole. Sir Robert, 384, 385. 
War of i8i2, 441. 
Warsaw (war'saw). Duchy of, 444, 

450 ; map after 442. 
Wartburg (varfbura), the, and 

Luther, 332. 
Washington Conference of 1921-2, 

"naval holiday," 667-8; and 

China, 668-9; America's credit 

for, 669. 
Waterloo, 451 ; Byron quoted 

on, 454. 
Watts, James, 469. 
Wellington, Duke of, 442, 451, 459. 
Westminster Abbey, Plate facing 

514. 
Westphalia (west-pha'li-a), Peace 

of, 354. 
Whig, 381. See Liberal 
Whitney, Eli, 468. 
Wilberforce, 519, note. 
William III, and cabinet govern- 
ment, 382-3. See William of 

Orange. 
William IV, 510-2. 
William I, of Prussia, and the 

Gorman Empire, 503-4. 
William II (the Kaiser), quoted on 



20 



INDEX 



French Revolution, 404; and 
divine-right despotism, 560-1 ; 
and Morocco, 555-6; and Bis- 
marck, 567-8; and Pan Ger- 
manism, 567-8, 627 ; opposes 
"open door" in China, 609; 
threatens America, 638; abdi- 
cates, 650. 

William the Silent, 349-50. 

William of Orange, 392-4. See 
William III of England. 

Williams, Roger, 379. 

Wilson. Woodrow, and World War, 
634 ff. ; and American neutral- 
ity, 634 ; Lusitania notes, 637 ; 
reelection, 637-8; war message, 
639-640; " Fourteen Points," 
645-6 ; and the Armistice, 650 ; 
and the Peace Congress, 653 ff. ; 
and Congressional elections in 
1918, 654-5; and League of 
Nations, 655-6, 661. 

Winkelried (wink'6l-ried), Arnold, 
335. 

Wittenberg (vit'tgn-berc), Luther 
at, 329-330 ; map after 454. 

Wolfe, James. 399. 

Woman suffrage, in England, 533- 
4 ; in Norway, 581 ; in Sweden, 
582. 

World politics, to 1914, 601 ff. ; 
" imperiahsm," 601-2 ; review of, 
in 18th century, 602; scramble 
for territory and markets, after 
1884, 602-3; United States a 
factor, 604; Japan, 604-6; 
China, 606-9; European Alli- 
ances, 614-5; arbitration move- 
ments, 615-20. See World War. 



World War, causes — imperialism, 
601-2 ; materials heaped for 
conflagration, see World Politics; 
a fuse in the Balkan situation, 
621-6; Germany lights the fuse, 
626-9; invasion of Belgium, 
629; England goes in, 629; 
German plans wrecked by Bel- 
gium and the Marne, 631 ; lines 
stabilized in the West for years, 
631-2 ; the war spreads (Eng- 
land's colonies), 632; German 
gains in 1914-15, 632-3; new 
warfare, 633; " f rightfulness," 
633-4; and the United States, 
34 ff. ; American neutrality 
made impossible, 635-9 ; U- 
craft war, 636-7 ; the Lusitania, 
637; America goes in, 640; 
Germany gains in 1917, 640-1 ; 
Russian collapse, 643 ; German 
offensive of 1918, 646-7 ; Amer- 
ican soldiers, 647-8; Allied 
offensive, 648-9 ; collapse of 
Teutonic powers, 649-50 ; 
Armistice, 650 ; cost, 651-2, 666. 

Worms (vormz). Diet of, 331; 
map after 442. 

Yalu (yji'lii). Battle of, 610. 
Young, Arthur, 408. 
Young Italy, 489. 
Ypres (e'pr), map facing 350. 

Zone of the Straits, 658. 

Zurich (zii'riK), 334; map facing 

336. 
Zwingli (zwing'li), 334, 335. 



